Band Kids
by happyperson15
Summary: (Begins in season two) It's Ben and Ella's softmore year at McKinley High school. This year Ben has finally convinced his best friend Ella to join the school jazz band. But with a year full of twists and turns they may just find themselves doing more then instrumental. This is a glee fanfic from the band kids pov. I do not own glee or its characters.
1. Auditions

Chapter One

It's my sophomore year at McKinley High and I've never been more nervous in my life. Which is saying something. My hands are even shaking. I take a look at the sign up sheet, butterflies building up in my stomach.

"You look as nervous as I feel."

I jump a bit at hearing Ben's voice. I turn my head to look at him. "You gave me a mini heart attack there. Is it really that obvious?"

He nods. "It really is. Though I don't see what you're worried about. You're the best marcher in this school. Not to mention your amazing flute, violin, and cello skills. Concert _and_ marching band would be lucky to have you Ella."

"Well, I guess that's one opinion I won't have to worry about at auditions." I sigh.

"You'll be fine. Gosh lady chill." He says in a diva voice.

I laugh. "How can I ' _chill_ ' when my chair position in concert band is on the line? I've never _not_ been first chair in the flute section. Except for that one time." I shiver. "Remember that one time in eighth grade when I was in _second_ chair? Ugh, it was humiliating!"

Ben looks at me flatly. "You poor soul." he says dryly. "If concert band is really stressing you out that much why not drop it and join the jazz band with me and Thaddeus? I think Autumn is even doing it this year."

"Ben," I say, "I hate jazz."

"It's only _called_ jazz band. We really just play music by people like Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Britney Spears." He replies enthusiastically.

I give him a skeptical look.

"Okay! There are other artists too but those are my queens." He says dramatically.

"You swear its better than concert band?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

"I swear! Jeez! Trust me woman! We play instrumental for the Glee club. It's a lot of fun. And dramatic." He begins to laugh hard, almost to the point where it gets difficult to understand him. "You should see Thadeus! W-when Finn asks to play his drums! He considers Finn his drumming rival but-but he's too awkward to say anything! He just stutters and says 'Sure Finn Hudson. You can play my drum set." By now Ben was laughing so hard he was crying.

"Ha, I'll believe it when I see it." And without further delay I sign my name up for marching band and jazz band, leaving concert band empty. After me, Ben signs his name up for jazz band. I had once been in marching band with Ben but after a week of wearing the uniforms he had a break down. Saying that the hat had demolished his gelled up hair. _Always such a drama queen_.

"Well, jazz band auditions are after school today and tomorrow. So, you know, you have time to try out for _marching_ band." He finishes in a judgy voice. "Oh, and unlike concert band you can audition with whatever song you want in jazz."

"That sounds great."

The whistle blew into the mic, blasting all our ears. How I missed that sound. Coach Miller's voice rang across the football field. "I want all students in rows of five facing the south field goal!" she yelled.

We all hurried into place. "You all know the drill! But just in case, let's review. There are four steps in between a yard line. You will be taking sixteen steps forward, sixteen steps back, and then start walking in a box. Eight steps to the right, then backward, then to the left, and finally forward. Then repeat. Understood?"

We all yelled "Hut!" to signify our agreement. She blew the whistle three times and started to hit the cowbell so we had a metronome. Slowly she increased the speed. Whenever someone messed up too obviously the drum major would blow a whistle in their face and they had to go sit in the side lines. This usually meant that they wouldn't get in. A couple people who messed up looked as if they were about to cry. Contrary to popular belief marching band was hard core. It consisted of early mornings and constant whistle blowing. Marching band season was probably the most stressful and thrilling part of the school year. If only it lasted more than just a couple months.

The drill lasted for about, I don't know, ten minutes? Oh well, I suppose that part doesn't really matter. What matters is that I rocked it. I was all like 'Heel-toe, heel-toe'. I feel like I can go to bed happy tonight. Is it weird that I'm giving myself mental high fives right now?

After auditions I made my way back to the school. As I get to my locker I see my three best friends standing by it. Ben, Thaddeus, and Autumn. Ben was leaning against my locker facing Thaddeus. Ben was dressed in his usual preppy attire which consisted a thin sweater, stylish pants, and some kind of "fashionable" boots his parents sent him from Paris last summer.

Ben's parents decided to go to the city of love without him. I don't really blame them though. I mean Ben hasn't had a girlfriend since the 6th grade when Lucy asked him to go to Chuck E Cheese's for her brother's 6th birthday. I'm not even sure if it was considered a date but from what I hear they had fun winning one pencil with their 1,200 tickets. I'm pretty sure their relationship ended with a giant tantrum from Lucy in the middle of Chuck E Cheese's insisting it was her pencil. So yeah, there's some unnecessary background.

Thaddeus on the other hand was wearing very hipsterish looking clothing. Let's just say it consisted a beanie and hipster glasses. All the while Autumn was wearing her normal hippie looking clothing. She had on a flower headband and a flowy, pastel floral dress, tied together with some sandals.

Like Ben though, I too had quite the preppy looking style. Button up shirts, sweaters, flats, and skirts are what I'm mainly found wearing. "Hey guys! Sup?"

"OMG! Hey Ella! How'd auditions go?" Autumn asks enthusiastically.

"Oh yeah. Marching band auditions were today." said Thaddeus.

"Good, wait… scratch that, I did great."

"Well as long as you're not overconfident." Ben says, rolling his eyes. I smile. Then he gives me a sly smile back. "If you want, there's still time for jazz band auditions…"

Knowing I'd end up caving in eventually I sigh. "Fine." in the long run there's no use fighting it. And without further delay I put my flute case into my backpack and quickly pull out my violin from my locker. "Lets get this over with."

Just as we were about to walk into the auditorium we almost run into a man exiting. "H-hey Mr. Brad!" Thaddeus blurts out. He never was good at talking to people outside of our friend group.

"Hey kids. Can I help you? I just got done with auditions." Brad said.

"Speaking of auditions. Do you think you have time for two more?" Ben asks, gesturing to me and Autumn.

He smiles, "Of course." We all follow him back into the auditorium.

Autumn went first on her guitar, playing an indie song I didn't recognise at first. Once she got a minute into the song though I realized it was _Growing Old on Bleecker Street_ by AJR. She was rocking it too, sometimes I forget how talented my friends are. It's just that I get so used to it, it slips my mind.

When she finishes Brad claps. "That was fantastic! Thank you so much." Autumn smile brightly at him then exits the stage.

"Autumn that was great!" We all congratulate.

She blushes. "Thanks!"

"Good luck Ella. I know you'll do great." Ben says to me before I walk up on stage.

"Hello, I'm Ella and I'll be playing Coldplay's Viva La Vida." I announce and without further adue I begin to play my violin. I guess you could say I got lost in the music because one second I was playing the intro and the next I was skillfully playing the closing of the song. I always did love Coldplay.

Mr. Brad stood up clapping. "That was fantastic Ella!"

"Thank you Mr. Brad." I say politely.

"Please, call me Brad. Only Theodor calls me Mr. Brad."

"...Don't you mean Thadeous…?" I ask.

"... That's what I said…" He responds.

 _No, no you did not._ I thought to myself. "Umm… Have a nice day." And with that I quickly and awkwardly walk off stage.

Once I reached my friends I turn to Thaddeous. "Does he not know your name?" I question.

"Yeah but he's not the only one… Like all the glee kids, my teachers, half our class, my parents…" He trails off.

I give him a confused look but don't say anything. It's best to just leave it alone.

"So," Ben says, "jazz band will be starting next week, excited?" He asks Autumn and I.

"Absolutely!" says Autumn excitedly.

"Sure, but we haven't even got in yet." I reason.

"Well… two different levels of enthusiasm but I'll take it nonetheless." says Ben.

"What about you Thadeus?" I ask "Are you excited?"

"Yeah."

"Great."

(insert awkward silence here)


	2. Demon Children

Chapter Two

It was only the second week of school, or I guess the third day seeing as they started last week on a thursday for some random reason and Ben Israel was already interviewing people for his stupid online news show. It seemed his topic this time was the glee kids. _May God have mercy on them all._ Is all I can think. On well, rather them than the band kids, last time he said something stupid to the brass section and once a day a different person from the band would slushie him. That's a different person everyday from every band group. In other words he got slushied for about 94 days straight last year and yes, sadly I participated but that's just the power of peer pressure. But that's not the only thing that happened, all the band kids ended up with detention, which I suppose was pretty reasonable, but what he said crossed the line and, as the extreme band geeks had said, _We must defend our musical honor!_ So yeah, that happened…

As the four of us walked down the hall, Ben avoided any and all eye contact. Not our Ben but the other one, Ben Israel, wow this is gonna get confusing. How about we just call him Ben number two, or froBen? Oh wait... His name is Jacob Ben Israel. Well that saves some confusion...

Anyways we, being Ben, Thadeous, Autumn and I, were just on our way to the choir room. On our way there Ben could and would not shut up about some guy in the glee club. What was his name? Kevin...? Kurt! Sorry, his name escaped my knowledge momentarily. Yeah … his name was Kurt. At least I think so… God I hope so, if not then Ben is gonna kill me.

"You should see this guy sing! He's great! Or I guess hear him would make more sense." Ben says enthusiastically.

"You sure are making this guy sound awesome. Are you and him friends or something?" I gasp, "Do I have best friend competition?!"

They laugh and Ben says, "No we're not friends but trust me, this boy can sing. God knows I can't sing like that."

I pause for a second. "Have I ever heard you sing Ben? Now that I think about it, have I heard any of you sing?"

Thaddeus shrugs. "Probably the only time we've heard any of us sing is when we do it over dramatically in my car."

Autumn giggles. "So true." She begins to crack up. "Remember that time when Ben screamed out your window, 'HELP THIS ISN'T MY FAMILY' it was hilarious!"

We all grin. "That was pretty funny, wasn't it?" Ben says proudly.

I roll my eyes. "One of these days Ben, they're gonna put you away for being insane. That or for being drunk in public, once you're of age."

"Both hold a very high probability." Thaddeus adds.

Our conversation stopped once we entered the room. There were the glee kids sitting down while all the band kids were huddled in the middle, surrounding Brad.

"Okay kids, I'm sad to say that there are about ten of you who didn't make it this year. I'm happy and sad to tell you that the competition this year was tough so for those of you who didn't make it I'm sorry. Here are a list of names that _did_ make it. Claire Adams. Edmund Collins. Katherine Currier. Ben Doe. Meredith Grice. Shermone Holmes. Thaddeus Johnson. Mitch Keough. Arnold Lenz. Natalie Longbottom. Ashlynn Pound. Steven Rogers. Tyler Sandvan. Ella Smith. Autumn Starkley. Jonathan Watson. And Alec Witterock. For those of you who didn't make it I am sorry but we only have so much room for people." Brad rambles.

Thaddeus, Autumn, Ben, and I all high five. "Oh yeah," Ben says. "I knew you two would make it!"

"Pft, so did I." I reply sassily. I look around. A lot of people were smiling, except for the people who didn't make it. Obviously. They were either walking out teary eyed or angry. I preferred the teary eyed. The others were the kind of people that would slushie you out of revenge. The musical world was a vicious one. I'd have to keep my eyes peeled for a bit.

"Now that that's over with, let's get going." The Spanish teacher who was doubling up as the glee director said, clapping his hands. "The first assignment this week is to recruit new members."

"What? Why?" A girl in a reindeer sweater asks. I think her name is Rachel.

"Because," he says. "as much as I love you all being here we need more members if we're to get to regionals this year."

A couple of them sigh while a couple look ready to recruit. The class continues to drag on. It mainly consists of the glee people talking and making plans. After a while I got bored so I leaned over to Ben and asked. "What's the point of us being here if all we do is stand by the wall?"

"We stay just in case one of them decides to break out into song."

"But how do we know what song to play?" I ask him, confused.

He turns to look me in the eyes. "You don't."

I pause for a bit then turn to him. "That's terrifying."

"Horrific." He agrees. "They can't expect us to just know. I know for a fact that Barbra always told her instrumental entourage exactly what song she was about to break out into on the street and when. It's only professional."

I stare at him blankly, "Okay then… I can see you think highly of this subject."

He nods.

"Well I'm not gonna get into that."

"Probably for the best."

I chuckle at his dramaticness. Once their lesson was over Brad held us back. "Now kids I'll warn you now that when those demon children yell 'Hit it!' you're expected to know exactly what song they're about to play right away. This is why when they are given a topic for their lessons I suggest you to listen and memorize every song under that topic. I also have printed out sheets of paper over every member and their song preferences. I suggest that you do not lose these for they are vital for your survival. Now I don't know any of their names so at the top of every page is a nickname I've given them. They range from Fondu Lady-"

"Brittney." Ben whispers to me. Interrupting Brad.

"What?" I ask.

"That's her name."

I make an 'oh' face.

"Freaky, Male Soprano Guy-"

"Kurt." He corrects happily.

"Stuck Up Sweater Lady-"

"Rachel."

"Mohawk Dude-"

"Puck."

"Pregnant Cheer Lady-"

"Quinn."

"Asian Who never gets solos-"

"Tina."

"Wheels-"

"Artie."

"That random guy in the back who never sings… ever-"

"Umm...no idea."

"Football Guy-"

"Finn."

"Soul Lady-"

"Mercedes."

"Sassy cheerleader-"

"Santana."

"And so forth. He says after handing all the papers out." Under any other circumstances I would have thought he was joking but the look on his face showed that he meant business. And with that we all left.


	3. I Don't Sing

**Chapter 3**

"She did what!?" Autumn exclaims.

"You heard me! Rachel sent that girl to a crack house because she felt threatened by her singing abilities!" Ben explains.

"That's insane!" I say.

"Forget Stuck up sweater lady. She should be called psycho sweater lady!" Thaddeus says, trying to be witty.

I give him a pity laugh. "Good one Thad."

His chest swells up in pride. "Anytime Ella."

 _I hope not._ Was all I could think.

"If she sent Sunshine to a crack house, how is she not suspended?" I ask, continuing our earlier conversation.

"Because she supposedly has 'seen the error of her ways.'" Ben explains.

"Well that's stupid." I continue.

"Preach it sister." Ben exclaims.

"Well guys," Autumn says, "Thaddeus and I are going to the library, see you later."

Thaddeus's cheeks turn pink. "S-see you later." He says while Autumn drags him off.

Ben and I stare after them. "You don't think?" I ask Ben trailing off.

"No way... Right?" He says confused.

"I don't know I mean Thad's awkwardness, her enthusiasm."

"But Autumn is always happy and Thaddeus is always awkward." He reasons.

"They would be cute though." I explain.

"I suppose." Ben says thoughtfully. "#OTP! Anyways lucky for you I found a video of him singing on my phone."

"Is this about Kurt again? Ben, you're starting to scare me."

"Shhh its only hero worship."

"That's not helping you." I say.

"Shut up and put an ear bud in." He says while shoving an ear bud into my hand.

Once we were done watching the video of Kurt singing some song I didn't know I turn to Ben. "Dude." Was all I could say.

"Dude." He replys

"Oh my goodness Jesus the savior."

"Preach and testify!" He says with a goofy grin.

"That was great!"

"Tis why I bestowed it upon you." He says.

"So did you like stalk him or something?" I ask.

"Oh my gosh Ella! It's just one video." He laughs.

"It was just a question!" I defend.

"No man, I just needed proof in case someone questions me."

"Wow. Just wow. ... Hey Ben," I begin to ask "can you sing that high?"

"No, I'm like a baritone or something."

"Cool." I say, having no idea what that meant.

"What about you?" He asks.

"What about me?"

He looks at me flatly. "What is your range?" He makes it sound simple.

"Umm..." I say, thinking about it. "I have no idea."

He looks at me in now surprise. "How do you not know?"

"The only time I sing is with you guys in Thad's car. Well I guess that's more like screaming but still."

"No!" He says dramatically.

"Yes!" I say, copying his voice. "I'm just too busy playing instruments to concern myself with anything like that."

"Can't concern yourself?" He questions with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes," I reply "I'm a musician, not a singer."

"But how do you know if you've never done it?" He reasons.

"I just do." I attempt.

"Sing to me."

"What?"

"Serenade my ear holes."

"That sounds messed up."

"Ugh, just sing woman!"

"No way! We're in the middle of lunch."

"Come on." He wines.

"Let me eat my government funded food in peace." He gives me a puppy dog look and I sigh. "Ben, I don't even know how to sing."

He looks shocked. "How have you never sang in the whole fifteen years of your life?"

"I just haven't. Like I said, I play music I don't sing it."

"I can't decide if you're dedicated to instruments or if you just live a sad life."

I roll my eyes. "Thanks." I say flatly.

And with that the bell rings.

We were off to the side of the choir room, as usual, waiting for the glee club to decide what the lesson should be for this week. By now I've learned to just ignore why they're doing the lesson and to just focus on the artist or song genre that they were using. Right now they were trying to convince Mr. S- something… that they should do Britney Spears and Ben looked like he was about to explode out of happiness.

"Control yourself." I said to him.

"Shut up! Britney is an inspiration, if you don't like it then get out!" He told me off. The fact that he said that with a straight face amazed me.

"You know Ben. Sometimes I can't tell if you're being serious or if you're just pulling my leg."

"I do not tug on legs when it comes to Britney."

"Understood."

"Fabulous."

"Now guys, we are _**not**_ doing Brittney and that's final." said the glee director.

Ben looked like he was about to cry so I awkwardly patted his shoulder. Then Britney raised her hand and started to rant about how Britney Spears stole her identity of something.

A few days went by and Kurt kept insisting that the glee club do Britney. This made Ben ecstatic. "Finally," he said "someone is defending Britney!"

"Ben I think you need to calm down." I say quietly.

"No way, do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for the glee club to do Britney? So long! It would be awesome to play her songs at the ensembly!"

"Ben chill, quit being a peasant."

Ben pauses. "Peasant?"

"Peasant." I confirm.

"Ella, I worry about you."

"As you should."

"Should we ask Brad after class?" I suggest.

"OMG Ella YAS."

"I'm only doing this so you'll shut up."

"None the less #Praise!"

"Okay…" And with that we dropped the subject and stood awkwardly at the side of the room. During class though Kurt got into an argument with Mr. S-something. It was pretty awkward for everyone else in the room but I couldn't help but agree with him. Mr. S has always been pretty up tight but lately he seemed even more so. Sometimes I honestly think that the glee director picks songs and genres that he likes and not the glee students. It's a bit annoying but he has been getting better at it. I heard he let the glee club do Lady Gaga and Madonna at one point so that's something. I just wish he'd let everyone do Britney. I know Ben really likes her and would love to play at least one of her songs and the thought of him getting disappointed kind of made me sad. Although Ben is a bit older than me, his maturity level made him seem like a little brother. Though if anyone were to ask him I can almost promise that'd he'd say he were the older sibling.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by Kurt yelling at Mr. whatshisface, "Quit being so friggin uptight all the time!"

"I'll see you in the office Kurt." Mr. whoseit said in probably the most serious tone I've ever heard him use.

After Kurt left the room not much else was said. I don't think anyone has ever seen Kurt lash out in the way he just did before. It just kind of came out of no where. I guess he's just as in love with Britney as Ben. … I ship it. I mean who wouldn't?

It's been a couple days since Kurt's outburst and he's toned down a bit with the whole 'Britney' thing, but that doesn't mean he's given up. I have to hand it to Kurt for being so persistent. It's pretty impressive in all honesty. But something about Mr. Shew? Shoe? Sue? No, that's not it. … Mr. Showe? Oh I don't know! Something about Mr. S-guy seems different; that's all the info needed. Long story short we get to play Brittney. Something in Mr. SingTeacherDude's personal life must be pretty out of whack to be giving him these mood swings.

At this point in time though I couldn't care less because we get to do Toxic, which is probably my favorite song by her. I'm pretty much fangirling over the violin part.

I can't help but notice that as we are practicing for the assembly that Mr. GleeClub is really getting into it. Which just so happens to be creeping Brad out a bit. He's looking pretty uncomfortable. Though, he's not the only one, most of the band kids, including myself, have their eyes glued to the music. Now that I think about it all of us had our eyes fixed on the music, not most but _all_. The glee students seem completely oblivious to it oddly enough. I wonder if this is normal for show choir?

"OMG guys! Did you see Mr. Schuester? He was totally getting into it" Autumn says hyperly but then slowly scrunches up her face. "It was totally weird."

"You're telling me?" Thadeous replies, mirroring her expression.

"The thing that gets me is how oblivious the glee kids seemed to be towards the subject." Ben questions.

"Literally what I was thinking." I tell Ben, earning myself a high five.

Randomly though, Thadeous checks his watch and shows it to Autumn. She gasps and turns to us. "We've got to go guys! TTYL!" she rushes.

But before they both fly out the door Ben stops them. "Just wait you two." He warns.

"You guys have been ditching us all this week." I exclaim.

"You two aren't going out… Are you?" Ben finishes in a teasing tone.

Silence.

"No!" We say together. "Why didn't you tell us?" If the situation weren't this, I don't know, … important, I would have scolded Ben for reading my mind or something.

"S-sort of. I m-mean it's n-nothing t-too serious y-yet." Thadeous stutters.

"Yet?" Ben questions with a smirk.

"W-well I-I mean." Thadeous attempts with a sever case of tomato face.

"What Thadeus means to say," Autumn says while wrapping her arm around him, "is that we really like each other and things are going great." She grins.

"Yeah but you could have told us." I say, slightly hurt. "We are your best friends." I never completely understood why people in movies and junk got upset in situations like this until now. It hurts when someone you have always been so open with keeps something from you. As if they don't trust you.

Thadeous frowns. "Oh come on. It's not like we're the only ones who are hiding things."

Ben and I just look at them in confusion.

"Guys." Autumn says quietly. "let's be real here."

"We have no idea what you're talking about." Ben says honestly and I nod in agreement.

Thadeous looks at us flatly, no longer stuttering. "It's obvious that you two are going out!"

I slowly turn my head to look at Ben with disgust. As it turns out, he was doing the same to me. "Ben is like a brother guys." I reason.

"Like a twin brother." Ben adds.

"A twin brother who thinks a lot like me." I continue.

"We're like one mind." We say together, causing us both to jump. I swear, Ben and I have a day every few months where we say the same thing non stop. Unintentionally of course. It looks like it is one of those days.

"Pretending that terrifying event never happened, do you really expect us to believe that there aren't at least any sort of feelings between you two. I mean you guys still have sleepovers for crying out loud!"

"Hey Ella and I's families are practically one. Our parents consider us cousins or something." Ben elaborates.

"I literally call his dad uncle." I add.

Thadeous once again looks at his watch. _Who still wears watches?_ "We got to go guys. We have a reservation at BreadSticks."

Autumn smiles, already forgetting our semi serious conversation. "Yay!" And without further delay they rush out the door.

"I love them both to death but there is no way." Ben says, turning to me.

"Agreed." I pause. "Do you think it's cause we link arms sometimes?"

"Maybe. I mean if two girls do it no one bats an eye. If two guys do it, depending on who they are, people would think that they're just being idiots. But if a girl and a guy link arms.." He trails off as Finn and Rachel walk by, with their arms linked. This causes us both to groan once they walk past us.

"Maybe we should cut back on the arm linking for a bit." Ben suggests.

I sigh but nod.


	4. Friends?

"Ella! What's taking so long?" Ben yelled at me from the kitchen.

"Life." I yell back. Ben had spent the night last night and we stayed up way too late. I'm not much of a morning person and we had to wake up early for school. I guess the staying up late thing was a poor decision on our part but it's too late now.

"Screw this." I mutter, pulling the blanket back over my head. I fell asleep on one of the couches and now my neck really hurts. FML. _Today is gonna be great_.

Just as I'm about to close my eyes though, Ben kneels down in front of me. "A cup of steaming liquid my lady."

"French vanilla?" I question.

"Only the frenchest of vanillas." He replies.

"Many thanks sir knight." I say while taking the drink from him. "As a token of my gratitude allow me to take upon the task of the popping of tarts."

"I would not mean to trouble you my lady."

"Tsk, tis no trouble."

We both pause to look at each other. Ben looks up, grinning at me and I'm pretty sure I was doing the same. Once Ben stands up he helps me up. _What a gentleman._ I can't help but think. He must be in a pretty good mood today.

After our little conversation we both migrate over to the kitchen. "Morning you two." My mom says while packing her lunch for work.

"Hey mom."

"Hey Aunt Sarah." Ben replies after me.

My mom turns around and smiles at Ben and I. "I can tell by the look on Ella's face that you two stayed up late last night watching Netflix. What show was it this time?"

Ben and I both laugh. "Grey's Anatomy." Ben answers.

"Oh I think I heard your friend Autumn talking about that show one time when she was over."

Ben's smile grew wider. "Really? That's great! Maybe we can talk about it when we get to school!"

I frown. "That's if they'll talk to us."

"Oh yeah. Well I'm sure Autumn will. I mean, she's always been super forgiving." Been reasons.

"Yeah, but who knows how Thadeous is gonna act. And now that they don't need to hide their relationship anymore I'm not so sure they'll be spending any time alone." I reply.

Mom widens her eyes. "Don't tell me you two got into a fight with your friends?"

I sigh. "We did."

"How?"

"Well," Ben explains "they kept on ditching us so at one point we confronted them about it and long story short we find out that they're dating. But that's not all. They also accused _us_ of dating! Can you believe it?"

"It's not that I'm upset about them dating, because I'm not, is just that they didn't tell us." I add.

"Well do you blame them for thinking that?" Mom asked, referring to Ben. "You two _do_ spend a lot of time together. You're practically attached at the hip."

"So are most friends." Says Ben.

"Most friends are the same gender." She replies. "Oh would you look at the time! I've got to get you two to the bus stop!"

I look over to the clock on the microwave. "Oh shoot!"

School, as usual, was pretty boring. I feel like they teach the same thing over and over again but just make it harder as the years go on. Ugh so boring. Well at least we have the assembly today, that should be fun. Besides the jazz band thing I'm also gonna get to play in the marching band. We're playing Edward Scissorhands from our marching band competitions. It's such a pretty piece that I can't even. I just can't even, it's just really pretty. Ugh, I'm fangirling.

All of a sudden Ben pulls over and walks with me into math class.

"Excited for the assembly?" He asks.

"How'd you know?"

"I read minds."

"Ha! Figures."

"So, will the marching band be marching?"

"No but we'll be in uniform while standing and playing."

"Ugh," he whines, "I hate those uniforms."

"They're not that bad." I defend. "You just hold a grudge against them because they mess up your hair."

"Hey, not all of us can have perfect curls like you Goldilocks."

I roll my eyes and meet his blue ones. "Your hair is honestly not that bad. Sure, since your style is preppy it doesn't completely match it but maybe if you went from posh to a posh look with a rugged hipster spin then it would fit more."

"You said posh like fifty times." Ben points out.

"Preppy seemed like too much work."

This causes Ben to laugh. "Hey Ella?" He asks.

"Yeah." I reply, a bit curious.

He grins. "Do you ever wonder what life would be like if it was a movie or something."

"Not much, why?"

"I don't know, I just think it'd be cool to be the main character of something like that."

I laugh. "I don't think my life would be a movie, it'd be more of a fan fiction or something like that. I probably wouldn't even be apart of the original writing, just some OC."

Ben turns to look at me, wide eyed. "So true though. Just like some random teenaged girl gets bored and is like, ' _Hmmm, what if this happened_ ' or ' _Wouldn't this pov be cool_."

I laugh. "Watch, is some sort of collaboration between like two of them or something. And they're just showing it to their friends like, _'Look what I do on my free time.'_ "

Ben begins to crack up. "And their friends are like _'OMG, #PRAISE.'_ "

"Oh my gosh yes!"

"You know what that means right?" He asks, grinning.

"What?" I smile.

"It means that we're breaking the fourth wall!"

We both burst out laughing. "Hello readers thanks for doing the reading thing! Feel free to vote and comment!"

"Haha! That's the best!" Ben bursts out.

"It really is." I agree.

BRRRIIINNNNGGGGGG! The bell screeches over the intercom. Quickly, Ben and I shove our stuff into our bags. "Come on Ella." Ben says, "I think the glee clubs going first so that means were playing first."

"Do you think the marching band is going last? I need time to change."

"I'm sure you'll be fine as long as you have your instrument." He assures me.

"I hope so."

We walked into the auditorium at the same time everyone else was and made our way behind the makeshift stage in the middle of the gym floor. Ben and I wouldn't have been playing if some of the other drummers hadn't stayed home sick. This left me on triangle, Ben on tambourine, Autumn on guitar, and Thaddeus on drums. Mainly just Autumn and Thaddeus though, seeing as how we only come in every few measures. Otherwise, the song didn't really require anyone else.

As we continued the student body began to go crazy. … I've never been to a rave but this is how I've always imagined it. … The more Mr. S-face danced the more I got creeped out. … No one should do that to a hat. … I'm so done.

The more of the song we play the crazier the crowd gets, and the more the glee club sings the more uncomfortable I get. … whooooo…

All of sudden the fire alarm goes off. Ben, Thaddeus, Autumn, and I all snap our heads towards the doors to see who pulled it. Sadly though, we weren't able to find the culprit because of the herd of student stampeding out of the gym. Autumn looked about ready to start running too if Thaddeus hadn't grabbed her arm. "Wait. I don't see any smoke."

"And if we go now we risk getting trampled," Ben adds " and I ain't about that life."

"Here here." I agree.

Once the gym had mostly cleared we made our way out. Thank God Ben and Thaddeus had made the conclusion that we should wait. I'd hate to see my friends hurt, argument or not.

~TIME JUMP~ (Like a day or something…)

"Coach Sue?!" Autumn yelled, shocked.

"Yeah! She was the one that pulled the alarm!" Thaddeus explained.

"What the friggidy frick frack sick sack was she thinking?" Ben exclaimed.

"Don't ask me! All I know is that she pulled it."

"I don't think we'd understand even if we knew." I add.

They sighed, "You're probably right."

...

It's a bit awkward talking to them because of our argument but there's not much I can do but apologize. They may have kept stuff from Ben and I but guess that we did kind of over react. Ugh I don't know I just can't stand being on bad terms with them.

"Look guys." Ben says, pulling me out of my thoughts. "We're sorry for overreacting." Leave it to Ben to read my mind.

I sigh. "What he said. It just kind of hurt that you didn't tell us something this big."

Thaddeus nods. "And we're sorry for accusing you two of dating. It's just that you two are so close we just assumed."

"Yeah." Autumn agreed. "Friends?"

I laugh. "Of course!"

Autumn runs up to hug Ben and I while Thaddeus fist bumps Ben and gives me one of those bro nods. Like, one of those real subtle ones that people barely notices. Cause those are the coolest.

"So what should we do now?" Autumn asks.

"Well I think there's a glee club meeting today and Rachel actually gave Mr. Brad sheet music this time so we should probably head there." Thaddeus informs us.

"Cool!" Autumn says as she begins to skip her way over to the music room.

~TIME JUMP 2.0~ (Like five minutes or so…)

As we walked into the music room Mr. S-face was just finishing up a lesson slash speech thing. Ben and I shared a glance. As inspirational as the choir director's lessons could be they did tend to drag on, making it hard for us to concentrate.

Luckily though Rachel swooped in with a song to save the band kids from boredom. By then Brad had already handed out music sheets to the people who needed them. These people just so happen to be Ben, Thaddeus, and Autumn. Though Thadeus mainly had rests. I've got to say though, Rachel picked a great song and was really putting her heart into it. I have no idea whats been going on between Rachel and Finn but ' _Only Exception'_ is a great song choice. Just… all the feels.


	5. Rely on Something

Today the band, as usual, is standing in the corner. I'm thinking about renaming us the ' _corner club_ ' or maybe ' _corner fanatics_ '. Sounds legit to me.

"This week I'd like to pay tribute to Jesus!" Finn blurts out. _Where the fudge did that come from?_ "And I know there's others in here that dig him too. And so I thought this week, we could pay tribute to him. In music."

"Sorry but if I wanted to sing about Jesus I'd go to church." Kurt adds, "And the reason I don't do that is because most churches don't think very much of gay people… or women… or science."

"I don't see what's wrong with getting a little church on up in here." says Mercedes.

"I agree. I've had a really hard year and I turn to God a lot for help. I, for one, wouldn't mind giving a little thanks." Quinn says.

"Thanks for what? That it didn't come out a lizard baby?" _Oh Santana._

"Every time I pray I fall asleep." Brittany adds.

"Maybe our songs don't have to be religious. Maybe they can be about spirituality instead." Mr. sssssssssssssssssssssssss says, keeping the peace.

I couldn't help but notice though, the face Puck made and it looks like the same went for Finn. "You got a problem with Jesus?"

"No. I'm a total Jew for Jesus. He's my favorite heb. What I don't like is people using J money to cramp everybody else's style.  
Cause it seems to me that true spirituality, or whatever you wanna call it, is about enjoying the life that you've been givin. I mean I see God every time I make out with another chick." _Wow Puck. Way to get deep._

"Ok that doesn't make any sense. In fact it's stupid." Rachel puts in.

"Are you calling Mr. Billy Joel stupid? This time I'd like to continue my streak," Puck says while standing up. Crap, he's gonna sing! Time to panic! "of only doing songs by jewish artists. Hit it!"

Oh no. Oh no! OH NO! Oh… It's Billy Joel… We know this one… Only the Good Die Young

I forgot Puck could play guitar. And he was rocking out hard with Brad, Thaddeus, and Ben. Since Autumn and I weren't playing, when it got to the refrain we both started dancing and mouthing the words. This song is soooo catchy.

~Time Jump~ ps. idk how to do all the upside down punctuations and stuff so plz don't hate ;)

Ugh. Ben and I are currently in spanish class and are going back and forth in Spanish. This normally would be fine if I didn't suck at speaking Spanish. I mean I can barely speak English.

"Donc, Ella , hows votre journée aller ?" (So Ella, hows your day going?) Ben asks.

"Sí." (Yes.) I reply.

He scrunches up his face. "Ella , qui ne sont pas la bonne réponse." (Ella, that is not the correct response.)

Crap I think he's on to me. Um what do I do? "Sí." (Yes.)

Ben face palms. "Vous avez pas été étudiez. A tu." (You haven't been studying, have you.)

Yeah… I have no idea what he's saying. "No hago el español." (I don't do the spanish.) I'm proud to say that I memorized that one.

"Ella, what grade are you getting in French right now?" He asks.

"This isn't Spanish?"

Before he can respond we notice Mr. Shmer take Kurt out into the hallway.

"I wonder what that's about?" I ask, thinking out loud.

"No idea. But what we really should be focusing on is the fact that you thought this was Spanish." He says, changing the subject back on me.

"Well how did you not pick up on it earlier? I was literally speaking Spanish!" I inquire.

"I thought you were just trying to be funny and failing."

"Your words wound me Ben. They hurt." I say while gripping my chest.

He rolls his eyes. "You and I are studying tonight."

"Probably for the best."

~Time Jump~ like the next day

Autumn, Ben, Thaddeus, and I were on our way to the music room when Ben brought up Kurt, again. "So, have you guys heard about Kurt's dad yet?"

"Um yeah," Thaddeus says "didn't his dad have a heart attack or something?"

"Yeah." Ben confirms, "But something else happened and now he's in like a coma type thing."

"Do they know when he'll wake up?" Autumn asks.

Ben and Thaddeus shake their heads no.

"Poor Kurt." I mumble. Ben wraps his arm around my shoulder, letting Thaddeus and Autumn walk ahead. I can't imagine what Kurt must be going through. He already lost his mom and now his dad isn't in good shape either.

Makes me think of how Ben and I met. When we were younger both our dads were diagnosed with cancer. We met in the waiting room playing with those little toys they have for the kids. Almost every time my dad had an appointment his dad did too. The thing is that the doctors caught his dad's cancer at an early stage while my dad was too far on. But by the time his dad was given the all clear to go home our moms and us had gotten really close. So close that Ben would come with me to visit my dad in the hospital. But that didn't do much because a couple of hard months later he died. But that didn't stop Ben and I from hanging out with each other. Besides my mom, Ben was there to comfort me the most and I honestly think that's the reason we're so close. I may have lost a dad that day but I gained a brother, and I couldn't be happier about that. I suppose you could say that I love Ben in the family sense. Ever since then Ben and I's family have practically been one. our moms are like sisters and his dad is like my uncle. I just can't imagine being in Kurt's place, afraid of losing the only parent I had left.

As we walk into the music room we see all the glee kids surrounding Kurt hugging him and things like that. But all of a sudden Finn walks in. "What the hell happened?"

"My dad's in the hospital." Kurt replies softly.

"I know! My mom just called me! I feel like I'm the last to know!"

"Well I'm sorry Finn, it didn't occur to me to call you because he' not your dad."

"Yeah, well he's the closest I'm ever gonna get. Ok, I know it may not look like what everybody else has but we were sort of a family." Finn mumbles. Kurt just shakes his head and sits down. "Look," Finn continues, "I guess I just didn't like hearing about it by the other kids in gym." This causes Kurt to move his bag from the seat besides him, leaving it open for Finn.

"Hey guys." Mr. Glee says, walking in "our thoughts are all with Kurt and uh, it's sort of hard to focus on anything else-"

"Mr. Schuester." Mercedes interrupts.

"Yeah." He asks.

"I've been struggling to try and figure out what I want to say to Kurt all day. And I realized I don't wanna say it I wanna sing it." She says.

Mr. SingTeacherGuy gestures her forward.

"This song is about being in a very dark place and turning to God. It's a spiritual song. Is that okay?"

"It's fine."

She then calls up Tina and Quinn to help her out. Quickly, all the band kids get together and ready to play. Brad starts out on piano and then Autumn and our fellow bander and random student that I don't think about often, Arnold Lenz, join in. Autumn being on the harp and Arnold on the cello. Then when It hits the bridge Thaddeus comes in on his drums. He's really getting into it too, with some head nods and stuff.

"Thank you Mercedes." Kurt says "Your voice is stunning but I don't believe in God."

"Wait, what?" Tina says, before sitting down.

"You've all professed your beliefs I'm just stating mine. I think God is kinda like Santa Claus for grown ups. Otherwise God's kind of a jerk, isn't he? I mean, he makes me gay then has his followers going around telling me is something I've chose. As if someone would choose to be mocked every single day of their life. And right now I don't want a heavenly father, I want my real one back." Kurt says. He makes me wanna cry.

"But Kurt," Mercedes says, "you can't be sure. I mean you can't prove that there is no God."

"You can't prove that there isn't a magic teapot floating around on the dark side of the moon with a dwarf inside of it that reads romance novels and shoots lightning out of its boobs but it seems pretty unlikely doesn't it?"

"Is God an evil dwarf?" Brittany asks to herself. _Oh Brittany._

"We should not be talking like this," Quinn says, "it's not right."

"Sorry Quinn." Kurt says, getting ready to walk out, "but you all can believe in whatever you want to. But I can't believe in something I don't. I appreciate your thoughts but, I don't want your prayers." He finishes and walks out as the bell goes off.

"Well." Ben says as were walking out.

"Yeah. I mean I can get him not believing in God because of how bad things have been for him but he has to rely on something." I sigh.

"Yeah, you had me and your mom when your dad died."

"You know it!" I cherp, smiling up at him. "Have I ever thanked you Ben?"

"For what? Being there for you? Cause I don't really think you need to."

I give a hug. "Well thanks anyways."

He chuckles. "What a cliche BFF moment."

"So true. But Ben," I pull away. "I feel like we should talk to Kurt. Even if we aren't that close I feel like we should do something."

"Ben's face lights up. "We should, shouldn't we? What should we do? Send him flowers? Maybe a fruit basket? Make a cake? Break out into song?"

"Umm I was thinking more along the lines of talking to him and maybe saying something inspirational."

He whines. "Okay. If that's what you thinks best."

"It really is."

~Time jump!~

Ben and I were running a bit late for glee club and walked in while they were all clapping. I have no idea why they were clapping but Ben pretended it was for him and started waving his hands around like he had just ran a marathon. Luckily though only the band kids noticed, or at least I think. I just really don't want all the glee kids thinking we're a bunch of idiots.

"Mr. Schue," Kurt says "if I may."

"Yep?"

"Um I wanted to thank you all for your kind words and emails about my dad but, for your information, his condition remains the same. I need to express myself, so with your permission Mr. Schue I've prepared a number for the occasion." He tells Mr. Guy.

"Of course Kurt." He nods.

Kurt takes a deep breath. "On the day of my mom's funeral, when they were lowering her body into the ground, I was crying. I mean that was it, that was the last time I was going to see her." By now my eyes were beginning to prickle and my throat was tightening. This was bringing back way too many memories. "I remember, I looked up at my dad and I just wanted him to say something. Just something to make me feel like my whole world wasn't over. And he just took my hand and squeezed it. And just knowing that those hands were there to take care of me, that was enough. This is for my dad."

Ugh. I already knew the song Kurt had picked out. And it was particularly an emotional one. I can already tell that by the end of this I'm gonna be crying, but I guess I'll just have to power through the song.

Once he came in I started on the violin. And then when Autumn came in on guitar and Thaddeus on drums my heart kind of clenched. Kurt was putting his heart into the words and I could feel myself putting it into my chords when I came back in. When Kurt finished he was crying and If Autumn hadn't put her hand on my shoulder I wouldn't have known that I was as well. I quickly wiped my tears, took a deep breath, and smiled at her so she wouldn't worry too much. But this didn't stop Ben from giving me sympathetic looks.

Once the bell rang I grabbed Ben's hand and followed Kurt out into the library. He was standing by a shelf filled with science books, probably for some class. "Kurt?" I ask quietly, grabbing his attention.

"Yes?" He asked, looking confused. He probably has no idea who I am.

"Um hi. I'm Ella and this is Ben." I say, gesturing behind me towards Ben. "We're in the jazz band."

"Oh, um. Can I help you?"

"Um yeah sort of. I mean I kind of want to talk to you if that's ok?"

Now he just looks really confused. "Sure."

"Um ok. So being apart of the jazz band we often just sit at the side listening in on your guy's lessons so we know what songs to prepare for." I say.

"And with that," Ben adds "We find out about a lot of things, like your dad for example."

Kurt sighs. "Look, if you guys are here to tell me that you're praying for me please don't. I don't want your prayers."

"No. That's not it." I explain. "When I was really little my dad died. And if I were in your position, I don't think I'd be able to cope. Feeling like you might lose the only parent you have left must be awful. And I know you don't believe in God. For some people that's just hard. So don't think I'm gonna pressure you into joining my church, because I'm not. But right now, you need to be holding on to something. Putting faith in something." I quickly grab Kurt's hand and he just looks sort of shocked. "So put some in your dad. Have faith that he's gonna pull through for you." Quickly I pull my hand away in embarrassment. I didn't mean to come off so forward. "Sorry." I apologize "I never meant to come off so intrusive."

"We just want to help make you feel better about what's going on." Ben clarifies.

"No." Kurt says. "Don't be sorry. That's probably the best advice I've been given throughout this entire processes."

"I just couldn't stand by while seeing someone else in a situation I could be in someday." I explain while Ben nods.

"Thanks. Well I better go or I might be late for class." He says just as the bell rings.

I nod. "See you around." Ben says before he walks away. As Ben and I head the opposite direction for math Ben says to me. "Well that was real awkward at the beginning."

I laugh. "It was, wasn't it?"

"And girl, when you said that you were planning on saying something inspirational you weren't joking."

I shrug. "I was probably just summarizing something off of TV and not knowing it."

"None the less, it was the perfect thing to say."

"Well if you insist on complimenting me." I flip my hair and smirk. Ben laughs. "You were pretty quiet back there though, Ben."

"Was I?" He asks.

"Yes, yes you were. Though I don't blame you. You were probably nervous. Seeing as how Kurt is your man crush and all."

"Man crush?" Ben spits out. I simply nod. "I don't do man crushes."

"To late. I'm already shipping it."

"I hate you."

"#OTP."

"Shush your face."

I laugh. "Shush your face?"

"I was flustered." He complains.

I simply roll my eyes as I walk into the classroom.


	6. Thank You!

From gleebishop

Are the band kids going to stick out more to the New Directions since Ella and Ben talked to Kurt?

Ben, Ella, and maybe a few others will definitely begin to stick out to the glee club. I've got a lot of plans and can't wait for you all to see how the characters are going to interact together. I am just so excited I can't even! Its gonna be awesome I promise.

I'll try to update as fast as I can but I started my sophomore year about two weeks ago and I have a feeling first semester is going to be really busy. I've got an advanced language course this year and my teacher believes students should have at least one hour of homework every night… I know, I slightly dieing. :p Lol! But I'm gonna do my best guys. I just can't believe how many of you have followed my story! It means so much and is really motivating! Well I better get to writing so BYE!

Twitter: Michaela Kehoe Happyperson15yo


	7. I Need Self Control

Chapter 6

"Listen up!" Brad said as we walked into the classroom. I think the glee kids had club earlier today because all the seats were empty. Still though, we huddled into the corner. "This week the glee club is having little duet competition and I figured we could do the same. You'll still be helping them with accompaniment but I figured it's about time that we do something fun. You can all form up into groups or go solo, your choice, but the groups can only be a max of four people in a group."

Jonathan, one of the brass players, rose his hand. "Will there be a prize?" You could see the glimmer of hope in his eyes.

Brad smiles. "The winner, or winners, gets a solo at regional."

This caught all of our attention. All the bands at McKinley High did really well in competitions, it was just that they all went unnoticed by the school because band wasn't a sport. We still had some amount of respect, we weren't considered cool but no one was gonna go slushie us over it.

Ben, Autumn, Thaddeus, and I all looked at each other. All the jazz band kids were good but we all knew we were better and most likely gonna win. I mean we would never admit that we thought that way but… I don't know we've just been doing this from a very young age and practice almost every night. We don't practice because we need to but because we love it that much, playing is almost like second nature for us.

Ugh, now I feel self centered.

"I'll leave you all to discuss." Brad says and walks over to his piano.

We all gather. "What song are we gonna do?" Autumn asks.

"We should do Broadway." Ben suggests.

"YAS!" I second.

Thaddeus scrunches up his face. "What? No. We should do just a normal song. Why not one from All Time Low, or something like that?"

I sigh. "I guess Broadway would be sort of hard to do. You know, with all the singing and stuff."

"That and no one would probably recognize any of the ones you and Ben pick out." Thaddeus adds.

"Wow Thaddeus. Harsh." Ben says, dramatically gripping his heart.

"So what are we gonna do? We've got a guitarist, a trumpet, a drummer, and a flute. that's not exactly a traditional band." Autumn says, laughing.

"Well, let's see. Autumn plays guitar, harp, and tambourine; Ben plays trumpet and piano; Thaddeus can play anything percussion; and I play flute, violin, and cello. I think that if we want to do a bandish song it should be something involving these." I say.

"Oh my God!" Thaddeus cries out.

"What?" Ben, Autumn, and I say all at once.

"We can do the Game of Thrones theme song thing!" He exclaims and quickly pulls it up on his phone for us to listen.

This time Ben, Autumn, and I say, "Oh my God."

"We have to do that." says Ben.

"It was so epic!" Autumn adds.

"We'll need to find other people though. Maybe change some of the violin parts to guitar and piano." I explain.

"Yeah!" Ben says. "I don't even care about the solo anymore. We just need to make this happen."

I just high-five him, Ben is my spirit animal.

We all quickly walk over to the other groups. Thaddeus calls out to one of his drummer friends, I think his name was Arnold Lenz. "Hey Arnold!"

"Oh sup." Arnold turns back.

"I've got an idea." He says as we walk off to go talk to other groups.

Ben then goes to walk over to Tyler Sandvan. "Hey Ty!"

Then Autumn quickly ran off to go talk to Katherine Currier. "Kat."

As they're talking to the other groups I walk over to Mitchell Keough and his group. "Hey Mitch." I say while walking up to him.

He turns around. "Oh Ella! How are you?"

"Good. How about you?"

"Great." This is so awkward. "Anyways my group and I came up with an idea to go and play the Game of Thrones theme song with all the other groups. What do you say?"

"What about the solos?" One of Mitch's groupmates, Shermone Holmes, says.

"I guess we could always audition for them like we normally would." I shrug. "It's only if you guys want to. No pressure or anything."

"We'll think about it." Mitch smiles.

"Sounds good." I say while walking back to my friends. Mitch was pretty attractive. Not gonna lie. He was pretty pale and lacked muscle but was still very tall and had an amazing jaw line. Like damn. He has these green eyes that just make you want to swoon. Ok I need to control myself. But his brown hair. Ugh! Ella! Calm down!

Ben looks over at me and winks as I walk up to him. "Shut up." Ben knows I like Mitch. But I only like him a bit. Definitely not enough to want to go out with him, but enough to be like, you have a nice face. … I hate myself right now.

"So? Are they in?' He asks.

"They're thinking about it." I answer.

"Who all did you talk to?"

"Mitch, Shermone Holmes, and Jonathan Watson."

"Oh! Shermone is amazing at the violin!" Autumn adds in.

"And John is a pretty decent trumpet player." Ben continues.

"Who did you guys all talk to?" I ask.

"I spoke to Arnold, Ashlynn Pound, Natalie Longbottom, and Alec Witterock." Thaddeus says.

"And I talked to Katherine Currier and Edmund Collins." Autumn chimes.

"And then I talked to Ty, Steven Rogers, and Meredith Grice." Ben finishes.

"Sounds like we're gonna have a pretty good group if everyone joins in." I say.

"Well Kathrine and Edmund are in." Autumn informs us.

"So is Arnold and his group."

"Are we just waiting for Ty and Mitchell's group then?" Ben asks.

"I guess." I say.

"Well by the way Mitch keeps looking over here I have a feeling he's in." Ben smirks.

I go red. "Shut up!"

"I heard he's quite the cello player. He really knows how to strum those strings." Thaddeus wiggles eyebrows.

"What does that even mean?" I whisper yell.

"Whatever you want it to." Autumn says, wrapping her arm around me.

"Not you too Autumn!" I look at her desperately.

"What about Autumn?" Mitch asks from behind me.

I jump. "Nothing!" I say, a bit too quickly.

He looks confused but doesn't say anything.

FML.

"So, are you in?" Ben asks, trying to draw the attention away from me.

"Oh!" Mitch says as if he forgot. "Yeah, we're all in."

I smile. "Great!"

"So are we!" Tyler says from across the room. Tyler, like Mitch, is really tall so he's easy to spot from across the room.

Ben gives him a thumbs up. Soon after that all four groups come over to talk. "Who wants to be in charge of getting the music?" Katherine asks. She was pretty short so we all had to bend down to look at her a bit.

"I will!" Mitch, Tyler, and I all say. This causes Mitch and I to awkwardly look at each other but Tyler simply laughs.

"Oh cool," Arnold says "that way you all can split up sections and look for the music quicker."

"Sounds good." Tyler says, running a hand through his hair.

"Do you guys want to meet after school in the library then to get started?" Mitch asks.

"Sounds good." I reply while Tyler just shrugs. Then the bell rings and we all make our way out.

As we walk down the halls Ben comes up to me. "Ty is a boss."

"Yeah," I agree "he seems pretty chill."

"I heard he writes poetry." Ben informs.

"No way!" I laugh.

"Yep."

"That's great!"

"I know right?"

"Well we better get going. I don't wanna be late for history." And with that we made our way over to class.

Once school was done I made my way over to the library to meet up with Mitch and Tyler.

"Hey." I say as I walk over to them. They were over by the computers.

"Hey."Mitch replies.

"Sup." Tyler says as he sits down.

"So, how do you guys want to do this?" I ask.

"I don't know." Mitch says.

"Well, we'd have to start with changing some of the cello and violin parts to piano, seeing as we don't have enough of each." Tyler concludes.

Mitch and I both nod. "Do either of you play piano?" Mitch asks.

We shake our heads no. "Well I'm sure I could talk Kathrine into doing it." Tyler shrugs.

"Ok," I say and I can work on finding some brass and percussion parts."

"I guess that leaves me with strings and winds." Mitch laughs.

"Well that was easy." Tyler laughs, brushing back his black, purple streaked hair with his hands.

"Well what now?" I ask awkwardly, making them laugh.

"Well," Tyler suggests, "I know a place we could go that sells really nice marijuana."

I freeze up and laugh awkwardly, "I'm good, thanks."

He cracks up. "Like I would know anyone who sells drugs."

Mitch chuckles while wiping his glasses. "Way to freak her out Tyler."

OMG that chuckle was sexy deep. Shit Ella, control yourself. Damn hormones. Ugh now I'm swearing. "Well I should probably get going, Ben is probably waiting for me."

"Oh yeah," Mitch says. "Arnold and Katherine are probably waiting for us too Ty."

"Well I guess we'll all be on our way then. Nice talking to you Ella." Tyler says as he waves goodbye.

"Bye guys." I say, leaving to go find Ben."


	8. Pluff or Cluck

Chapter 7

Long story short. I cannot find Ben. Like, where you at bro? He is not answering my texts and I have no idea where he is. Which is strange because he always texts back immediately. It's like I'm the Umbridge to his Dumbledore from 'A Very Potter Musical.' With this in mind I quickly send him a text.

" _Ben did u get my txt? cause u arent txting me back."_ That, with various other text messages, and he still hasn't texted me back. I hate to be clingy but it's odd being away from my other half for so long.

Five minutes after I sit down my phone beeps, making me slightly jump. I quickly whip my phone out and check my notifications. With great disappointment though, I find that it is only a twitter notification. I sit like this for another five minutes. I'd text my parents to come pick me up but they're at work.

All of a sudden I hear a loud roar, not like a lion though cause that'd be weird, especially when I'm in the middle of Ohio. No it was coming from a motorcycle. I wouldn't have payed much attention to it if it hadn't pulled over right in front of me. As the rider pulls off his helmet I find them to be Tyler.

"Tyler? What are you doing here?" I ask.

"I forgot my book so I figured I'd come back and grab it before the school closes up." Then he quickly takes a look at me. "Where's Ben?"

"Oh um, I don't know. We were supposed to meet up but he hasn't showed. I'm even doing that annoying triple texting thing but he's not texting back."

"Oh, do you think he was kidnapped?" Tyler asks me.

"Ha! No way, that's way too over dramatic. But then again, that's Ben." I reply.

"Ha!" He laughs, "That's true. So, do you have a ride?"

"Not really, I was just kind of hoping he'd show."

"Well I can give you a ride, that is, if you'd like. I've just got to grab my book first." He offers.

I look over his shoulder at the death trap he calls transportation. But then again, I really do need to go home and do my homework. I'm pretty sure Tyler can see the conflicting look I'm giving his bike because he smirks and says, "It's not as scary as it looks. I promise to give you the helmet." He bargains.

The helmet did look pretty cool. "Ok." I agree.

"Cool. Well I'll be right back out. Text Ben just in case."

"Already on it!" I yell as he runs in the school. As I wait I look over at his bike. It was a two person one so it wasn't like we were doing anything illegal. Otherwise I know close to nothing about bikes. As I look away from the motorcycle I take a quick glance at my attire. I'm wearing a high waisted skirt with thick tights and a long sleeved shirt. Along canvas shoes. The outfit isn't really motorbike ready. I'll probably end up really cold and if we get in an accident then I'm a definite goner. I pray to God and the angel of motorbike safety that Tyler is a good driver, because I really don't feel like dying today.

"I'm back." I hear him chime from behind me, drawing me away from my prayers.

As I turn I see him holding a leather jacket that looks to be about my size. "Whose jacket is that?" I ask.

"Mine." He replies, cause me to raise an eyebrow. "I mean it's one of my ex's, she left it with me when we broke up. I'd give it back to her but I have no idea which ex it was." He tells me sincerely.

I laugh, "That's awful."

"I'm just being honest!" He defends.

"I can tell." I comment.

He shoves the jacket into my hands and I put it on. "You ready?" He asks.

"As I'll ever be." I sigh.

He chuckles and hops on and I follow suit. As he starts the engine and I just awkwardly grab his shoulders. I don't completely understand why all of the girls in books and movies have to latch on around the guys waist like it was their lifeline. Like, come on ladies, shoulders are just fine. But as he moves onto the street and picks up speed I suddenly realize, _oh shit, he is my lifeline!_ And without further delay I wrap my arms around his waist like there was a gun pointed at my head. He chuckles against my arms causing me to pout.

"Don't mock my misery!" I yell over the wind.

"I mock what I want!" He yells back.

That was pretty much the entire content of our conversation on the ride to my house, besides me giving him my address of course. Once we reached our destination he slow down and pulled over. "So, how was it?" He asks.

"After I got over the initial shock of everything it was great!" I say honestly.

"Ha, glad to hear it."

"Oh here." I say realizing I still had his coat and jacket on I tugged and pulled them off.

"You can keep the jacket." He says while taking the helmet.

"Are you sure? What if your ex sees me wearing it?" I smirk.

"Then tell me which one it is that comes up to you." He laughs, causing me to do just the same.

"This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship Tyler. And thanks for the ride."

"No problem." He replies before riding off.

Not even a foot into the door and my mom already has me cornered. "Who was that?" She asks me with a smirk that says she thinks she knows what's going on but in reality she doesn't.

"That was my friend Tyler from band. He gave me a ride." I tell her honestly.

"And you just ditched a ride with Ben to wrap your arms around Tyler?" She interrogates.

"I can't ditch Ben when he ditched me first." I grumble.

"Ben didn't pick you up?" She asks making me nod my head in confirmation. "That's not like him."

"You're telling me? Anyways I figured I'd give him an hour or two to contact me before I call his mom and dad."

"Good idea." She nods before walking off.

Normally Ben comes here after school for a couple of hours so his parents probably don't even notice he's gone. I sat in my living room doing homework for about an hour just waiting for Ben. Eventually though, I gave up and went upstairs to take a shower. Normally I would wait till morning but Ben is seriously stressing me out. Where on earth could he be?

As I step out of the shower I run into my mom. "What's up?" I ask.

"Ben's parents are on the phone. They want to know if you have any idea where Ben is." She responds, holding out the phone to me.

I take the phone and bring it up to my ear. "Hello?" I ask.

"Ella!" I hear Ben's mom, Carrie, over the phone. "Have you seen Ben? I haven't heard from him and usually he calls if he's staying with you." She asks me sounding a bit frantic but also like she's trying to stay calm.

"No, I haven't. I haven't seen him since school. He didn't even pick me up. I just thought he left and went home early." I tell her honestly.

"I just have no idea where he could be."

"I'll get Autumn and Thaddeus and check to see if he's still at the school if it'll help. If he isn't we'll drive around town for a little bit if it'll make you feel better." I suggest, hearing the worry in her voice.

"Oh Ella I'd love that! Thank you so much!" She thanks.

"It's no problem Carrie. I'll get back to you in an hour, ok?" I ask.

"Absolutely! Don't let me hold you up! Just tell me if you need any help."

"I will. Bye."

"Bye sweetie." And with that she hangs up.

Quickly, I dial Thaddeus's and Autumn's numbers urging them to come with me and see if Ben is okay. Naturally they agree so I quickly change out of my pajamas and into some sweatpants and a t-shirt, unlike my normal attire. Right as I pull on my shoes I hear the doorbell ring. Quickly I run down stairs and yell to my mom that I'm going Ben hunting. As I open the door I'm greeted by two very worried looking friends.

"How long has he been gone?" Thaddeus asks, looking the most serious I've ever seen him, same with Autumn.

"Since after school, He didn't even give me a ride." I inform them.

"Wait. Then who gave you a ride?" Autumn asks.

"Tyler, but that's besides the point we need to get going. " I urge.

"Where to first?" Thaddeus asks, hoping into the driver's seat.

"To the High School." Autumn declares, slightly back to her normal self.

As we drive towards the high school, Autumn and I both keep an eye out on the streets for Ben's car. Sadly though, we found nothing. Once we pulled into the school parking lot though we all saw his car parked in the spot it normally is.

"He's still here?" Thaddeus questions, more to himself than anyone else.

"I guess." Autumn replies anyways.

"Well I doubt he's inside, the janitors would have found him by now if he were." I reason.

"You know, I've heard that some of the football players like to trap kids into the port-a-potties." Thaddeus informs us.

I shiver. "Gross."

"But it's still worth a shot." Autumn tells me.

"Well, they're near the football field aren't they?" Thaddeus asks.

"I think so." I say, I really do not want to go near the port-a-potties, they smell funny and make me very uncomfortable.

"To the port-a-potties!" Autumn testifies.

As we get closer and closer to our destinations we all notice that one of the port-a-potties are tipped over. Quickly, as if we were of one mind, we glanced at each other, then back to the port-a-potties, and took off running. I swear if Ben is in there someone is gonna pay. Let's just say that none of us are very nice when we're angry. Once we get the I lightly knock on the side to see if anyone was in there. All three of us hold our breaths to see if we can get a response. After a moment we all hear Ben's voice. "Hello?" He asks groggily.

"Ben!" We all yell.

"Ella? Autumn? Thaddeus? Sweet sweet friends? Is that you who knockith on my port-a-pottyith? Or have I just gone mad from the few lonely hours I've been in this mobile, toilet prison? I spent many a minute planning my escapes but alas, I gave up. For none turned out as planed. Leaving me in a daze of fantasies filled with soap and warm water."

I roll my eyes along with Thaddeus. Ben, ever the drama queen. Autumn gasps in shock. "Oh my! Ben, are you alright? Who did this to you?" She asks in despair.

"Ugh," he groans "some bird brained jockeys looking for a quick joke at the expense of an innocent passer by."

"You're far from innocent Ben." I interrupt.

"Names Ben! I want names!" Autumn yells falling to her knees for dramatic effect. I swear this is turning into the baby of an anime and soup opera.

"Names? I can't be sure I know them. For they were nothing but strangers to me. But I do remember a face, or I suppose, the hair. A certain mo-hawked delinquent and his supposed companions cornered me and shoved me in here. I believe his name begins with a 'P' but I can't be sure. Though I do know that he is apart in that wretched Glee Club."

"Oh I know him. His names is Pu- um Puff? Pluff? No um-." I attempt.

"I think you mean Tuck." Thaddeus corrects.

"No," Autumn disagrees, "I think you mean Cluck."

"Nooooo." Thaddeus and I draw out.

"But I thought-" Autumn was cut off by Ben.

"Oh for goodness sake, Puck! His name is Puck!" He cries in an irritated tone.

"Oh yeah." We all say together.

"Pft, I knew that." I mutter.

"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Thaddeus questions.

"For dramatic effect! I simply forgot that you all are awful at names and wouldn't play along, except for Autumn that is." He sighs.

"What do you mean 'play along'?" Autumn asks innocently.

"Nothing will you just help me out of this?" Ben asks tiredly.

"Oh yeah." I say before helping Thaddeus and Autumn push the port-a-potty back upright. After the struggle that took to happen Ben bursts out as if he hasn't seen the sun in years.

He steps out and takes a deep breath in and sighs out. "Fresh air."

I plug my nose with my fingers. "You smell awful."

"Nice seeing you too Ella." He replies sarcastically.

"When isn't it?" I chirp back to annoy him. "Why didn't you text or call for help?" I ask him, serious now.

"They took my phone and book bag and threw it over there." He tells me, pointing to his book bag sat only ten feet away.

"Jerks." Thaddeus mutters.

"You're telling me?" Ben replies.

"How are we gonna get back at him?" Autumn asks. We all pause. That kind of question is very out of character for Autumn and has me a tad worried. "What?" she asks, noticing all of our expressions. "They should know better than to mess with the band kids."

This we can all agree with. "So what do you suggest we do?" Ben asks with a sly smile placed on his face.

"Why don't we figure this out after you call your mom and take a shower." Thaddeus suggests and I nod in agreement. My nose is being murdered over here.

"Fine, I'll talk to you guys tomorrow. Sound good?" Ben asks.

"Yep." We all agree.

"Just make sure to spread the word so all the band kids know what's going on, jazz, concert, and marching alike." I order. And with that Thaddeus dropped me off and we all went our separate ways.


	9. Boss man

As Ben, Autumn, Thaddeus, and I all walked into the school we were on a mission. By now all band kids, marching, jazz, and concert alike, all knew about what had happened yesterday and were out for payback. Which I know is a bit cliche but it doesn't make it any less true. Each group had a part to play to show not only Puck, but the entire school, that one should by no means, mess with a band student. All the bands were going to go on strike against any musical numbers the glee kids might suggest. Or at least in the classroom. In the halls however, the plans aren't as peaceful. We split the school into three areas and based on what you are involved in is where you're positioned. I, for example, am in between the marching band and jazz band. Everyone had a job, the scrawny kids, much like myself, are scattered in places to keep look out. The more athletic or muscular kids, like Tyler and Ben, were spread in groups because no way could the average band kid take on a football player. I mean we're ambitious but not stupid. I just pray that Puck comes this way before the bell rings.

"Guys." Tyler says. "I don't think we're going to catch him this period."

"You're probably right." Ben sighs.

"Well we have Jazz Band so I suggest we head over there before the final bell rings." Sherman suggests.

I nod in agreement. "Let the strike begin." I mutter.

As I walk in I see Mitch talking to Brad, most likely informing him of what has happened. We all figured Brad would probably agree seeing as he is not a big fan of the glee kids but we gave Mitch the job of telling him in case he needed to be persuaded. Which is one of the many things Mitch is good at.

Ben and I look at each other then back at them. We spend about a minute holding our breaths until we see him nod. Almost immediately after Mitch starts walking back I run up to him. "So is that a yes?" I ask excitedly.

"You know it!" He tells me, smiling.

My grin widens. "How are we going to tell the glee kids?" I ask him.

"That's easy." He tells me, "When they cry 'Hit it" we just don't come in."

"Well that's less climactic than I thought it'd be." I answer honestly.

He laughs in amusement. "Sorry to disappoint."

"No no." I smile. "It's perfect."

Ben, who has been silent throughout this entire conversation, rolls his eyes at us. "Yeah yeah. We get it, you're both in love with each other. Now quiet down or get a room. The glee kids are walking in."

I glare at Ben but as much as I hate it, the glaring did not hide my massive blush at all. I look out of the corner of my eye to see Mitch scratching the back of his neck and blushing a bit as well. But before either of us can say anything Mr. GleeButAlsoSpanish teacher guy announces that glee has started. "Bad news guys." Mr. SingingTeacher says, "Puck is in juvie. He ran his mother's vuelo into a convenience store and left with the atm."

"He's so stupid and that's coming from me." Brittany laughs.

"How selfish is he?" Finn asks angrily. "We need his voice for nationals, and his bad boy stage presence!"

"Now, now guys. Let's try to have some sympathy." Mr. SingingSpanishTeacher says.

I look to Ben and whisper. "If Puck isn't here are we still going to go through with the strike?" I ask.

"Of course." He says in a matter-of-fact tone. "I must be avenged."

I rolled my eyes. Yes I agree that we should follow through but must he be so dramatic.

"Now Santana and Mercedes said they were ready to go for the duets?" Mr. Teacher asks. They both nod and head up front to get ready.

I turn to Ben. "Oh no."

"What?" He asks, confused.

"Were going on strike and the first people we aren't playing for are Santana and Mercedes."

"So?" Ben still seems confused.

"They're both hard core divas who really want to go to bread sticks."

Now he goes wide eyed. "Oh snap. Never get in between a diva and her bread sticks."

"Yeah, but I suppose there is no going back." Ben simply nods.

The two glee girls stand up front for a few moments and wait for their intro but an idiot could see that Santana was beginning to get really impatient. "Excuse me?" She snaps. "Are you going to start?"

"Nope." Mitch says, folding his arms.

"What was that? I must not have heard you right." She says. If looks could kill I'd be in pieces.

There's a moment of silence before Tyler finally speaks up. "We're on strike."

"Wait what?" Mr. SweaterVest asks, obviously confused. He quickly turns to Brad.

"Sorry Will." Brad says. "But your students haven't been treating mine right lately. Your kid Puck and his buddies locked Ben in a port-a-potty. He would have been there all night if it hadn't of been for Autumn, Thaddeus, and Ella." Brad explains, gesturing to all of us.

Mr. 50ShadesOfVests looks taken aback. "That's not the only thing either, we're tired of being expected to know what song you all want to sing at the snap of a finger. It's ridiculous." Katherine says.

"And simply telling us what song you're going to sing isn't enough either. We don't know how to play every song you tell us. You have to give us the sheet music because we're not paying for it ourselves." Thaddeus sasses. I don't think I've ever seen him this confident talking to other people, I wonder if that's Autumn's doing.

"Oh it's not like you're that talented of a band anyways." Santana says.

"Excuse me?" I ask, folding my arms.

"Oh you heard me barbie." She snaps back.

I raise an eyebrow. "I'd like to see you try and play an instrument as well as us."

"Come on guys all musicians are created equal!" Autumn exclaims desperately, obviously trying to break us up.

"You're right Autumn. So don't you think they should realize just how equal we really are? We aren't just backup, half the time music makes the song. Especially when the singers can't sing a note." I say.

"Oh no you didn't!" Santana snaps.

The bell rings. "Enough!" Mr. NowAngryTeacher says. Santana and…"

"Ella." I tell him.

"You two stay after class, we're going to settle this."

I sigh. Please no detention please no detention. I look over to my friends. Ben, Thaddeus and Autumn are all snickering at me. I roll my eyes, of course they're laughing at my misery. Then I see Mitch, he gives me a grimace and walks off to his next class. My cheeks go red. Did I really just loose my cool in front of him? Ugh fml. My eyes wander and I see Tyler grinning at me, giving me two big thumbs up. I roll my eyes and laugh.

"What has gotten into you Ella?" Brad asks. I look down awkwardly.

"And Santana." Mr. UpsetTeacher says, "You may not realize it now but we owe quite a lot to the jazz band. I believe an apology is in order."

Santana rolls her eyes, keeping her arms crossed. "It's not like playing an instrument is that difficult."

"I'd hate to break it to you but playing an instrument takes years of dedication." I inform. "Singing is basically talking but with a tune."

"Oh be my guest. I bet you're tone deaf." She sneers.

"How about this? I give you a week to learn how to play an instrument and you give me a week to learn to sing. Then we'll see which is harder."

"A week!?" She asks.

"If it isn't so hard then I'm sure you'll have no problem." I say.

"Then it's settled." Mr. NowNotSoAngry says. "We'll settle this next week and then we'll go on with the duets."

Santana and I both nod in agreement. "See you in a week." She tells me before walking off.

As I leave the choir room I run into Kurt and Ben. "We heard everything!" Ben exclaims. "I can't wait to teach you to sing!"

"Ben, I don't think you're really qualified for that." I tell him.

"I could teach you." Kurt says.

"Really?" I ask. Not quite believing him.

"Yeah. I wouldn't mind seeing Santana's face when you come out singing like an angel." Kurt tells me.

"I don't know if I'd go that far. For all I know I really could be tone deaf."

"You mean you've never sang before?" Kurt asks in disbelief.

"That's what I said." Ben laughs

"Umm yeah." I say, a bit embarrassed. I didn't think it was that big a deal.

"Oh I hope this is like one of those cliche movies where the girl turns out to be an amazing singer." Ben gushes.

"Knowing my life Ben, it probably will."

"You want to meet up at around four after school today?" Kurt asks.

"Yeah," I nod "I'll give you my address and we can meet up at my place."

"Oh! Can I come too? I want to see this!" Ben begs.

I laugh. "Sure thing Ben." I then sigh. "Well I've got to get to class so I'll see you guys tonight." I say then wave them goodbye.

Once I'm out of science I head over to my locker to get ready for English. "Hey." I hear a voice behind me say.

I turn around and look up to see Mitch. "Hey." I say back.

"So back in the choir room…" He trails off.

I rub the back of my neck awkwardly. "Yeah, sorry about that. I guess I was just still really upset about the whole port-a-potty thing."

"Yeah I could tell." He says. "I know Ben is kind of like a brother to you but you really shouldn't let your anger get to you like that. You could end up in serious trouble."

I nod, kind of confused. I was expecting him to says something about how cool it was that I stood up for my friends. Maybe I'm just a bit too conceded. "Um yeah, I'll keep that in mind." He nods before walking away.

"Don't listen to him." Tyler says, walking up to me. "I think what you did was cool."

"Really?" I ask, a tad surprised.

"What kind of person would you be if you didn't stick up for your friends?" Tyler questions.

"I guess. He is right though, I could have gotten into some big trouble if the glee instructor hadn't stepped in."

"You've got to take risks every now and then Ella. Mitch is nice but he's too much of a goody goody to realize that following the rules isn't how to have fun."

"But not following them can get you arrested Tyler, or worse, suspended." I say, shivering.

"Getting arrested isn't that bad." He rolls his eyes.

"Umm."

"My point is that yeah, you have to follow the rules but you shouldn't follow blindly. You should feel free to push and question your boundaries a bit. Otherwise you're just a sad little turtle being pushed around by the boss man." He tells me.

"Wow Tyler." I say. "That was deep… or of."

"Well what can I say? I'm gifted when it comes to going deep into stuff." He says and then begins to chuckle as if he's made a bad joke.

"What's so funny?" I ask.

"Nothing." He laughs. I give him a confused look but decide not to go into it. "Hey, don't I have English with you?" He asks, turning his attention back to me.

I pause for a moment. "Yeah, I think you do."

"Well, shall we?" He asks, gesturing to where he believes the classroom is.

"Yes," I tell him "but the class is that way." I point in the opposite direction.

"Oh yeah." He laughs. And then we were off to class.

After school I meet up with Ben in the parking lot. "Hey!" I greet as I walk over to him.

"Hey!" He chimes back. "I can't get over the shade you threw in band today. It was flying all over the place."

"Don't you think you're exaggerating a bit Ben?" I ask in an attempt of reason.

"No way homie! Shit was real!" He exclaims.

"Yeah, … sure."

"Anyways we best get our homework done so we have time to practice with Kurt." I could tell he was ecstatic about hanging around Kurt and also that I'd be learning to sing.

"Ready to spend an evening with your hero?" I ask sarcastically.

He nods as we both hop into his car. "And maybe if you're lucky he'll sing." I say, continuing to tease.

"One can dream Ella. One can dream." He replies, and without further ado we're off.

Fast forward to four in the evening and Ben and I are waiting in my kitchen for Kurt to arrive. Correction, Ben is waiting in the kitchen by the door for Kurt to arrive. I on the other hand am practicing my violin in the living room. Five minutes into my practice Ben and I hear a knock at the door. I look over to Ben to see him count to five on his fingers. Trying to make it look like he wasn't waiting by the door for the past ten minutes. I internally chuckle and look back down to my music. I was hoping to figure out this key signature before Kurt got here but I suppose it would have to wait.

Ben opens the door for Kurt and quickly invites him in. "You can hang your coat over there." Ben says, gesturing to a coat hanger placed off to the side.

"Thanks for coming Kurt." I say as I get up to greet him.

"No problem, sorry I was a bit late."

I wave my hand in dismissal. "Barely. So how should we start?" I ask, getting right to business. I really hope this doesn't get awkward.

"Do you have a piano? We can work on matching pitch and seeing how far your rang goes."

"Sure I do." I reply as I lead them to a small room I use to practice when my mom is home.

I could tell Kurt was eager to get started because once he was at that piano it was all business. Now I will admit that I am not a natural. In fact, it has taken me about fifteen minutes to even make a noise that sounds like singing. Although, once I got there I began to get the hang of it. As the practice went on Kurt explained to me that I was a soprano which meant that my range was higher. Though when it hit four thirty he had to leave to leave, apparently he was making dinner for himself and his dad.

"Ella," Kurt said, grabbing my attention "as a bit of homework I'd practice putting a bit more air behind your voice. It might just help you sound a little less breathy."

I nod, taking his suggestion to heart. "I will. Thank you so much Kurt."

"My pleasure. Same time tomorrow?" He asks.

"Definitely!" Ben answers.

"Cool." Kurt waves then leaves.


	10. Band Geeks Go Quack!

Chapter 9

I've been getting lessons from Kurt now for about a couple of days, and personally, I don't believe I'm all that good. Or at least not Santana good. Even though I doubt myself a bit on singing, I am fully confident that Santana will have a bit of a harder time on whatever instrument she chose. I just hope for her sake that she didn't choose a clarinet. I shiver, that'd be awful with the squeaking and such.

"And that's it." Kurt says, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Really? Already?" I ask.

"Yep."

I feel a sudden wave of nerves as I think about singing in front of everyone. "Ugh. I'm going to make a fool out of myself." I mutter.

Kurt must have heard me. "You are going to do just fine." He assures me.

"I know I said singing was just talking with a tune Kurt but this is just-" I sigh "I don't know."

"You'll be fine Ella!" Kurt sighs in exasperation. "You're better than you think."  
I give him an unsure look. "Kurt, I sound like a dying potato."  
He pauses. "Why a dying potato?"  
"What other potato would I be?"

"You need to chill. You sound like Ben."

"I can't help it."

"Look Ella, I'm completely confident that on Friday, you're going to walk into the music room and blow them away. All there is left to do is pick a song that fits your voice. If you want I can help you with that but I think you will be just fine by yourself." He encourages.

¨I hope you're right." Is all I say before I show him out. Although I'm nervous I push my fear aside. I have a few more days to figure everything out before I have to perform. No use in worrying, not when there's no getting out of it.

As I make my way down the halls of McKinley High I search for Ben. Where on Earth is that boy? I need his help with picking out a song. While I'm walking down the hall, searching for Ben, someone rams into me. The impact causing me to drop my books. "Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry!" The person apologizes. I look up to find it to be Mitch. He quickly kneels down and grabs my books for me, like the gentleman he is. "Here you go Ella." He says, handing them to me.

"Th-thanks." I stutter. Oh my God… I stuttered. Why did I stutter? Who stutters? Well people with a stutter stutter but- … Just kill me now.

"No problem." He smiles. "You aren't hurt, are you?" He says, now concerned.

"Why would I be hurt?" I ask, confused.

He looks at me awkwardly. "Well, I did just kinda bulldoze into you."

"Oh yeah… Um no… I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"Good." There's an awkward pause. "Well I'll see you in 6th period." He says, then leaves.

"Yeah." I said but he was already gone. I quickly bring my books to my face, hiding how bad I'm cringing. My cringe being so severe that my neck and shoulders scrunch together, making me look like an actual turtle. Out of nowhere however, someone bursts out laughing. I turn to find, Tyler.

"Oh my God Ella." He laughs.

Horror washes over me. "Oh no. Did you see that?" I ask, hoping he was just laughing at something on my face.

"I saw all of it! You're both so awkward!" He says, still laughing. I groan. "Damn, you're whipped."

"Is it that obvious?" I ask.

"Well yeah. To everyone but Mitch that is. He's the most oblivious child I've ever met."

"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"Truth is Ella, he won't know you like him unless you flat out tell him."

I sigh. "You're probably right… But I don't have time to think about that. Class starts in five minutes."

Now it's his turn to groan. "Why do you get to class so early? You literally have five minutes to talk and chill."

"But what if I'm late?" I ask.

"You won't be late! The art room is literally five feet away."

I pause. "How do you know what class I have?" I ask.

Silence. "Umm ... well, you see." He scratches the back of his neck in embarrassment.

I could tell he was about to go on but the minute bell cuts him off. "I've got to go Tyler, but I'll talk to you later. K?"

"Umm. Yup sounds cool!" And off to art I go.

It is now currently lunch and I'm sitting with Ben, Thaddeus, and Autumn, explaining to them the incident with Mitch. "You're so lame Ella." Ben supportively tells me.

"Gee thanks Ben. You do know how to make a girl feel better about herself." I grumble.

"It's not that bad Ella." Autumn says, attempting to cheer me but.

"Not _that_ bad? That still means it's bad!" I sigh.

"You shouldn't beat yourself up so much about it. Mitch is just as awkward as you are. He probably hardly noticed." Thaddeus reassures.

"You think so?" I ask.

"Yup." He nods.

"So what song are you singing Ella?" Ben asks.

"I have no idea. Like should I try to be all meaningful like the glee kids or should I just phone it in?"

"Good question." Ben answers. "Ha! How about you nonchalantly confess your love to Mitch?"

"How about no?" I tell him flatly.

"You don't have to come out and say it, Ella" Autumn explains. "But you can definitely do a love song. Maybe he might take the hint. "

I sigh. "According to Tyler, these type of things tend to go right over Mitch's head."

"Really?" Thaddeus asks surprised.

I simply nod. "Well that doesn't mean you can't do a love song." Autumn insists.

"You could do Like a Virgin by Madonna." Ben offers eagerly.

"What the duck. No way Ben." I snap.

"Duck? … Quack!"

"Quack quack!"

"What the hell are you two doing?" Katherine asks, genuinely confused. Their lunch table was only a bit away from ours.

"Pft, nothing." I reply.

"I was simply getting in touch with my inner duck." Ben reasons. "He isn't set free as often as he should."

Both Arnold and Katherine stare at us, completely dumbfounded. "You get used to it." Thaddeus sighs.

"Back to songs!" Ben bursts out.

"Oh yeah!" Autumn realizes.

"Umm… Maybe 'Can't Help Falling in Love' by Elvis?" I question.

"That's a great idea!" Autumn congratulates.

"Well, I guess that solves that problem." I say, relieved.

Skip ahead a few days in the future and I'm about to walk in and sing. Kill me now. My nerves are starting to kick in and I'm afraid I'll choke. Let's just hope Santana is way worse at playing an instrument then I am at singing cause the truth is, I'm probably not even all that good. I'm not saying I'm horrible or anything. No way am I that self-deprecating. I'm probably just 'meh'. Meh isn't at all a bad thing however. Meh is beautiful. I sigh. What the fudge am I thinking right now? … Probably how I don't want to sing.

"Why so glum chum?" Tyler chirps, walking towards me.

"I have to sing." I reply.

"Oh yeah, that's today. Isn't it?"

I sweat dropped. "Wow Tyler. I feel so loved."

"As you should." He smirks.

"Sarcasm is not welcomed here."

"Who are you to say where sarcasm is and is not welcomed?"

"I'm the queen of sarcasm." I state drily.

"Well, with an attitude like that I'd say you were an imposter."

"You have no proof."

"Well, seeing as I'm the king of all things sarcastic I'd say that I have a right to say such things."

"King?" I ask.

"King." He confirms.

"I don't know what's happening anymore…" I tell him, confused.

"Same… I kind of stopped following the conversation five seconds ago."

"Ugh."

"Ugh."

"... Well I got to go."

"See you in the band room!" He waves goodbye. A smile spreads across my face. That conversation was probably one of the most confusing I've had in awhile, which is saying a lot. And it barely even lasted a minute. Even so, that just made my day. Tyler had a way of making me feel better and I can't help but wonder if he has that impact on everyone. I feel like he does. With these thoughts in mind, I walk into the band/choir room with a grin on my face, ready to take this on wether it goes north or south.

Walking in I made my way over to Ben and everyone. ¨Sup.¨

"Hey!" They greet. "Omg! Ella, I just know you're gonna do great. Ek! I'm so excited!" Autumn gushes.

"Um thanks Autumn." I say. She just gives me a pleased nod. I then turn my head and see Santana walking in with a soprano recorder in her hand. I look at her flatly, out of all the instruments she chose a soprano recorder… Those are legit the easiest instruments to use! Kindergartners know how to play those. I think I just died a little bit on the inside, here I am, freaking out and taking this super seriously all the while she was playing the recorder… I sigh, causing Ben to look over at Santana. Once he saw her he began to snicker, looking at me. "Not a word Ben." I tell him.

"Of course." He replies.

I continue to glare at Santana, well more specifically her recorder. "Hey Barbie!" I hear her say from across the room, drawing my attention from the insufferable instrument to her. "Got a problem?" This ends up drawing attention of pretty much everyone in the room.

I look from the instrument to everyone in the band and then back to the instrument. Noticing that this was the instrument Santana chose to learn and play for today they all began to chuckle. I run a hand through my blonde hair, sighing for the hundredth time. "You chose a soprano recorder." I state flatly. "I just thought you'd take this seriously."

That statement seemed to irritate her because she mustered up a glare in response. "I'm not joking around." The band continues to laugh. "What is so damn funny?"

Ben walks forward, still laughing. "It's just that Ella here has never sang before in her entire life. So she was pretty stressed out about it and was taking it very seriously. Here she walks into school today, expecting this to be really intense, only to find out you've been playing the recorder. An instrument Kindergarteners are taught to play."

"Ok, that's enough guys." Mr. Dude says, walking into the room. "Let's keep this fair and without arguments alright?"

"Alright." Everyone murmurs.

"You'll both be playing your instruments then singing. The order will go Ella, Santana, Santana, then Ella."

"Why in that order?" Autumn asks.

"Yeah I don't get it." Brittany agrees.

"It's so they'll both go first in whatever area they're better at." Ben explains.

"Oh, That makes sense." Autumn chirps.

"Anyways. Ella." Mr. HairKindaLooksLikeRamen said, gesturing me to take my place in the middle of the room. Never thought I'd be in this area of the school. I had a better chance of being in the boys locker room than in the middle of the choir room.

Without any further delay I make my way over and set up. I plug a very much borrowed electric violin, that Shermone was kind enough to give me, into the school amp. After I did that I set up my loopy thing.

"Wait wait wait." Santana interrupted me. "What's that?"

I give her an odd look. "A loopy thing."

She raised an eyebrow. "A 'loopy thing'."

"Yeah, it records the sounds I make on my violin so I can add harmonies and things like that." I explain. "Just listen and you'll find out."

"But how on earth is that fair?" She asked rather loudly.

I respond with a flat look. "When you sing will the glee kids join in?"

"Well probably."

"Then yes, it is in fact fair." I then turn to everyone else, aka glee kids. "Now I'm going to need dead silence because if this picks any of you up we'll hear it throughout the whole song. Which is annoying." Then without any further explaining I begin playing my remix of Beyonce's Halo. It was awkward at first because of how I had to strum the background music. That and how uninterested some of the kids looked. But, once I began playing the melody and they recognised it, I had their full attention. As I played my last chord, silence began to fill the room once again. That is, until Ben began clapping, making everyone else clap. This doing nothing but make me blush and scratch the back of my neck. "Um… Thanks."

And without any delay Santana walks up to the area I was previously standing in. Let's just say that the song she chose was no Halo. Although, I will hand it to her. Her song full of whole notes was pretty. It just wasn't Beyonce.

After her performance Mr. Perm did a little good job thing and transitioned into the singing part. I feel like I'm in some sort of weird show… or beauty pageant… Gross.

I hardly pay attention to Santana as she sings. My thoughts too occupied with how awkward Thaddeus and I would be in a beauty pageant and how fabulous Ben and Autumn would be. I was so deep in thought that when she finished Ben had to wave his hand in front of me to grab my attention. However Santana gave a smug look, thinking that my stupid far off look was because of how nervous I was to be following her. "Scared?" She asked.

Yes. "Hardly."

She scoffs but takes her seat anyways. I however steal, aka borrow, Autumn's guitar and begin to strum the beginning of Elvis's 'Can't Help Falling in Love'. Now, I can't play guitar, I'm actually pretty bad, but sometimes playing and reciting are two different things. All I'm doing now is strumming a couple of chords with my eyes closed, as if to make myself feel like no one else is there. ' _You're in your own room, Ella. You're in your room.'_ I recite to myself and, before I know it, it's over.

All of a sudden the bell rings. But in all actuality it not really that sudden because this stuff is scheduled people. Needless to say though, I thank the bell gods for saving the day once again. Without having to deal with any of the awkward cheering I quickly hand Autumn back her guitar. Rushing out of the room and to class, Flash style. Not even bothering to ask how I did to anyone. I just decide to pretend as if none of this happened… _EVER_.

Ella's violin solo: Halo violin cover:  watch?v=u4r3PGLTN00

A/N

Hey guys! I'm back! I'm sorry this chapter took like a thousand years to publish! I swear I'm trying! Anyways, *clears throat* I hope you all enjoy this chapter and feel free to comment. I read them all and absolutely love your feedback. I can't promise fast updates now that school is starting back up again but I'll do my best. Junior year is definitely gonna be my hell year. *cries on the inside* … I hope you all are having a great summer! Stay safe! Make good choices! More chapters coming up! BYYYYYYYEEEEEE!

"The next chapter is going to be a great one. Plus I will bug her everyday to write new chapters because i am the OG fangirl." -Katie (the spell checker and the girl too emotionally invested in this book) ps micaw you better keep mine in

"Meow" -Taylor (friend that's just kinda here and the og Tyler) ps micaw don't actually keep this when you publish this lol

...I'm keeping it… -Michaela


	11. MegaSuperFoxyAwesomeHotGUY

_**Recap:**_

 _ **All of a sudden the bell rings. But in all actuality it not really that sudden because this stuff is scheduled people. Needless to say though, I thank the bell gods for saving the day once again. Without having to deal with any of the awkward cheering I quickly hand Autumn back her guitar. Rushing out of the room and to class, Flash style. Not even bothering to ask how I did to anyone. I just decide to pretend as if none of this happened… EVER.**_

It's been a week since the whole show down with Santana and the duets and I've been avoiding any and all conversation relating my singing performance. I honestly just don't even want to know. Luckily for me with the Glee Club deciding to do the 'Rocky Horror Show', it wasn't too difficult to keep conversation off of me. But really, what are they thinking?

Ben however, is ecstatic. Because he is super pumped about this musical, Autumn, Thaddeus and I were all roped into being involved in pit orchestra. I could be home watching Netflix right now but nooooo, now I have to spend that precious time in rehearsal learning music. FML.

"Ella!" Ben says, grabbing my attention. We were currently at our lockers grabbing our things for our next class.

"Yes Ben?" I ask, still facing my locker.

"Is that Finn walking down the hall in his underwear?" Ben asks me, completely dumbfounded.

I whip my head towards Ben to see what in the world he is talking about. When, all of a sudden, Mitch comes up and covers my eyes. "Um… You don't want to see this Ella."Mitch tells me awkwardly.

Normally I'd be hella curious as to what it is I 'don't want to see' but with Mitch standing so close to me, well, it's hard to focus on much else, my blush growing redder by the second.

"I don't understand why you're covering her eyes Mitch." Tyler's voice says, popping up at my right. "She'll probably end up seeing worse on the internet. At least this way she's in a safe environment."

"What are you, my mother Tyler?" I laugh.

"Nope, I'm your daddy." He replies.

Even with a hand covering my face, my cringe was visible. Probably the most visible thing to ever be visible. "Ew. Nope. Stop right there. That's just- Wow. Nope." Tyler burst out laughing at my disgusted face.

Much to my disappointment, Mitch removes his hand from my face. "Coast is clear." He tells me, still standing rather close.

"Oh um… Thanks."

"Yeah… By the way, Ella. You did a really good job singing the other day. I was really surprised."

My face is becoming even more red. Dear God help me. "Oh thanks. That means a lot." I smile.

"No problem." He smiles back before walking off. That was an abrupt end to a conversation…

Once Mitch is out of earshot Tyler turns to me. "My name is Ella, and I'm in _love_."

"Oh shut up!" And with that nothing else eventful really happens. Well, that is if we're not counting the drama between the guidance counselor, her boyfriend, and Mr. LoverBoy. As well as the musical being canceled. All that Netflix time! Waisted!

"Welcome back Puck!" Mr. Rooster greets cheerily. Instantly my gaze turns to my other band members. Our plan to get back at Puck kind of failed, seeing as he wasn't even there. By the look on everyone's faces I don't think we're going to try anything elaborate again.

We all sort of nonchalantly huddle together. "I suggest we just look for an apology." Katherine says. We all nod in agreement.

"For Ben's honor." Tyler says dramatically.

Ben begins to fake tears. "Thanks man."

"No problem homie." Dorks. And with that we all go back to standing where we were previously.

"Puck, I hope your time in juvie has taught you a lesson or two about right and wrong." Mr. YarnHead says.

"Are you kidding me? I ruled that place. All I did was crack skulls and lift weights all day."

"Classy." I rolled my eyes.

"Just like yo mom." Tyler chirped.

"What'd you say bout my mama?" Ben chimed in.

"...she a classy lady." Tyler turned to Ben, smirking.

"Bro." Ben says, fake teary eyed.

"What are you two?" I asked them incredulously.

"And now, drumroll Finn because I have in my hand our competition for sectionals next month." Finn drum rolled with Thaddeus standing behind him, questioning his life. "First, the a cappella choir from the all-boys private school in Westerville, the Dalton Academy Warblers."

"Hot." Ben commented.

"And the other team to beat, the Hipsters a first-year club from the Warren Township continuing education program. Now, they are a glee club composed entirely of elderly people getting their high school G.E.D.'s."

"Give one of those old ladies a good-luck pat on the rear, it'll shatter her pelvis." Why is Puck like this?

"Since it seemed to get you guys jazzed about sectionals last year I want to make this week our second-annual boys versus girls tournament. So split up into two groups and figure out what song you're gonna sing. You'll perform it next friday." So we're just ignoring what Puck said. … Alright.

"Umm I'm sorry but we won't be able to play and back you guys up next Friday." Katherine interjected.

"Yeah! You tell 'em Katherine!" Tyler cheered.

"Guys… I'm not being sassy, we genuinely won't be able to play."

"That's right," Brad confirmed, "you guys have your band competition then."

"What?!" Thaddeus squeaked.

"Since when?" Arnold was practically panicking.

"Since always." Brad snapped. Yikes.

"But you haven't even given us the music yet." Mitch sighed.

"Well someone's been keeping you guys occupied." Brad said, giving the glee club a side glare. So much salt in one man.

"Well… do you have any of the music now?" I asked.

"Why yes, Miss Smith, I do."

" _Miss_ Smith? yiiiiiiiiike." Ben whispered in my ear.

As Brad passes out the sheet music to the other band members, I look at it's title. It's conveniently called _Apologetic_ Rain. How convenient to the story line! "Wait!" I call out. "This reminds me! Puck!" I say, turning to point to him.

"...What?..." He asks looking genuinely confused. I mean I would too, to be honest.

"I demand that you apologize to Ben for locking him in a port-a-potty."

"Oh Jesus Ella maybe say it louder so the whole school can hear you!" Ben cries out, covering his face with his hand. "But for real man, that was a dick move." He says, looking at Puck then turning back to me. "Honestly, what are you? My mom?"

I look up at him sheepishly. "Sorry, Ben."

"Why in the great name of Jewish God would I apologize?"

"You Locked Me In A Port-A-Potty!" Ben cries. "Who freaking does that!? You know how disgusting those things are!?"

"That was kind of the point, Bif." Puck replies.

"BEN! My name is BEN! Who in this entire school is named Bif?!"

"Ben," I say, grabbing his attention, "you need to calm down man."

Ben takes a deep breath and begins to mutter, "Flip a brick, flip a brick, flip a brick, flipabriiiiiiick."

"As if I'd apologize to some band geek." Puck said.

Ok, now I'm heated. "I don't know if you've noticed," I begin, walking up to Puck, "but 'band geeks' are still higher up on the food chain, that is high school, than a glee kid with a dumb hair cut."

A chorus of 'oooohs' could be heard throughout the room. "Damn Barbie." Santana muttered from across the room.

"Ok Ella, now it's your turn to calm down." Tyler said, pulling me away from Puck. "This is a peaceful confrontation but still a confrontation and Mitch can only take so much."

The entire room turns towards Mitch who was having a cringe attack by the wall. "I _hate_ stuff like this happens on TV I always skip it but this is real life and there's only so much I can do. … I'm gonna wait in the hall." I couldn't help but feel slightly bad but when I looked over to Mitch's main group of friends; Arnold, Katherine, and Tyler, it looked like they all thought it hilarious.

"Look man," Tyler continues, "we're not the type of people to take something like this sitting down. All we're asking for is an apology."

"First off, my hair is _not_ stupid-" Puck began.

"Yeah it is." I couldn't help myself.

"Excuse me, but the ladies love the 'hawk."

"No, I can say, as a lady, they do not love 'the 'hawk.'' It makes you look like a really tall fourth grader. No one wants to make out with a fourth grader."

He glares at me. "You know, you're not really convincing me on this whole 'apology' thing."

I let out a huff of anger just as the bell rings. As everyone exits Ben walks up to me. "I wanna slushie him Ben. I want to slushie him good."

"I know Ella. I know." He says, patting my shoulder as we make our way to our next class.

As Ben and I walk through the halls a couple of classes later we hear a loud bang. As we whip our heads towards the noise we see Kurt on the ground by his locker. Glaring at what's-his-dumb-face. "Kurt! Are you ok? That sounded like it hurt." Ben asked. Concern written all over his face. But Kurt just nodded and walked away. "That's been happening a lot

lately." Ben mumbles.

"It has?" I'm surprised.

"Yeah," he nods, "normally he just shrugs it off but I feel like it's been getting to him a lot more lately."

I shake my head. "What a jerk. Kurts like, one of the nicest people I know. And he's in _glee_!"

"I know right?" Ben agrees. "I hope it all just blows over soon."

"Me too."

A week later and the jazz band is all on a bus, making our way over to our first competition of the season. I sat next to Ben while Mitch sat in front of us, chatting with Katherine, Arnold, and Tyler. All I did was stare at the back of his head while Ben, Thaddeus, and Autumn were talking. Or at least that's what I thought until Ben waved his hand in front of my face, causing me to look over at them. Turns out that they must of stopped talking awhile ago and instead decided to stare at me in judgment. "Leave me alone! This is bullying!"

"We're not- I'm not- … It's just … Why are you like this?" Thaddeus asks with a sigh.

I make a noise that's probably a mixture of shock and hurt. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"He means," Ben begins, "why do you do these things that you do?"

I look up to the ceiling dramatically. "What have I ever done to deserve this?"

"Deserve what?" Mitch asks, turning around in his seat.

"N-nothing. Ha! Lol." I can hear Tyler burst out laughing from his seat ahead of Mitch. "Shut up Tyler!"

"Not a chance!"

"I'm so confused." Mitch says. "Is something going on between you two?"

"NO!" I all but scream. But Tyler just begins to laugh harder. I'm gonna punch him one of these days. And in return all Mitch does is look back and forth between the two of us. I slump down in my seat. "I hate my life." I grumble.

Jump to a couple hours later and I was still sulking with a mad blush on my face. However, we arrived and I was glad to get off that bus and away from Tyler. It seemed like whenever he was around I just made more and more of a fool of myself in front of Mitch. It's as if he were indirectly trying to ruin my chances with his friend. Ugh.

As Ben, Thaddeus, Autumn and I were making our way into the building Katherine pulls me over, grabbing me by the arm. Before I know it I'm with her, surrounded by our fellow band mates, Claire, Natalie, and Ashlynn. "I'd pull Autumn and Meredith over too but they're both dating someone already." Katherine says.

"Wait. … What's going on?" I'm so confused.

"We're going boy scoping!" Claire cheers.

"Boy scoping?"

"It's this thing we do at every competition." Natalie explains.

"We walk around in a group and stare at boys with nice faces." Ashlynn states.

"It's actually a lot of fun." Katherine assures me. I look over at Mitch who's ahead of us now as the rest of our group finds a place to put their stuff. Oh what the hell. A little staring never hurt anyone.

"Oh what the heck, count me in." They all smiled widely at me.

Our Jazz band didn't perform for the judges until a little later in the day. That meant that the five of us had a bit of time to walk around and as we grew hungry we made our way over to the concessions area. As we went through the line my eyes immediately made their way to the area where they were selling doughnuts. Sure, there were definitely some healthier choices but these weren't just any doughnuts, these were cake doughnuts. And the pink one with sprinkles was calling my name. As I reached for it I bumped hands with someone else going for the same one. "Oh I'm sorry-" I looked up and immediately cut off as I made eye contact with probably the hottest guy I've actually ever seen. The moment my green eyes connected with his dark brown ones I was at a loss for words.

"Sorry," He said, his voice deep. It was calming but I could definitely hear a hint of mischief behind it "were you going for that one?"

I clear my throat. "Yeah but I can always pick a different one, no big deal."

"No," he said, "go ahead. Now that I'm closer I think I'm digging this chocolate one instead."

"You sure?" I ask, looking up at him. He was a good head taller than me.

"Absolutely." Our hands were still somewhat brushing but once he picked up the other doughnut his hand left, leaving my hand a lot colder than it normally would be.

After I got done paying for my food, I waited patiently aways away for the rest of my friends to pay. Suddenly the same guy from earlier came up to me. This time, giving me a better chance to look at him. He was wearing black skinny jeans, a black bomber jacket, with an MCR band t-shirt underneath. His hair was also black, it was messy but if it was intentional or not, well, I had no clue. As for the rest of him, his skin was tan and he had probably the strongest jawline I've ever actually seen in person. Damn. He had a cocky smirk on his face as he said. "I'm Julian, incase you were wondering."

Something in the back of my mind told me that that smirk was nothing but trouble but am I going to listen? Probably not. "I'm Ella." He stretches out his hand for me to shake. Our handshake only lasted a bit longer than any other one but that didn't stop the light blush from hitting my cheeks. There he was. Dressed in black, looking all edgy and wow. I look down at what I'm wearing. A large pastel pink sweater, with faded blue skinny jeans, and white converse. Not to mention my pale skin and blonde hair. We're so opposite that if I were anyone else, I'd be wondering why in the world two people so different would be talking.

"I like it, it suits you. Your name, that is."

"Likewise."

"So tell me Ella. What school are you from?"

"I'm from Mckinley High."

"Oooooh. I don't know if we should even be talking." He jokes.

I tilt my head to the side. "Why's that?"

"I'm from Carmel High School." My eyes widened. Every high school football team has that one school they just can't stand. The one where the rivalry is so intense and no one even knows why but it's there and it's deep. Well, the Carmel High School Jazz Band, also home to Vocal Adrenaline, was just that to the Mckinley Jazz Band.

However, the look in his eyes tells me that he doesn't actually care and I decide right then and there that I don't really care either. I mean a girl doesn't see a face like that everyday. Not that I'm the superficial or anything but oh my I'm getting off track. "Oh my, maybe I should leave before war breaks out." I smile.

He steps a bit closer. "I'd hate for you to leave so soon." He stares into my eyes and I feel as if he's seeing everything. I've never met someone so intense in my life. Yeah there are people like Mitch who are cute and sweet and they've caught my eye and I thought those feelings were strong. But now, I'm not so sure anymore. This boy, Julian, has me paralyzed with one look. I'm not sure if I should swoon or run away.

"Ella?" I turn my head to see Katherine and the others, now painfully aware of how close Julian and I are standing to one another. I clear my throat and take a step back.

"Oh um, hey guys." I say, giving them a meek wave.

"Who's your friend?" Ashlynn asked with a sly smile.

"Oh. Um. This is Julian. Julian, these are my friends Claire, Ashlynn, Katherine, and Natalie."

He gives them a polite smile, but that doesn't make it any less dazzling. Their eyes widen. "It's nice to meet you all."

"Yeah." Natalie sighs.

Julian then turns back to me. "My band performs at three. You should come by and watch."

"I'd love to. If you have time, you should come see us at four."

He lifts up my hand and gently kisses it. "Wouldn't miss it for the world." And with that he takes his leave.

"WE LEAVE YOU FOR FIVE MINUTES AND YOU MEET MR. MEGAFOXYASOMEHOTMANOFMYDREAMS?!" Natalie squeals.

"I mean, it just happened." My face probably the reddest it's ever been in my entire life, and I've had some pretty nasty sunburns in my time.

"Oh my God! I just- WOW." Katherine says, struggling to find words.

"What's 'Oh my God! I just-WOW'?" Tyler asks, popping up behind us along with Ben and Mitch.

"This super-mega-awesome-foxy-hot guy that was totally hitting on Ella." Ashlynn exclaims.

"OH MY GOD is this true Ella!?" Ben asks, a smile plastered on his face.

My mouth begins to open and close like a fish. My mind has gone blank and I don't even know where to begin.

"OMG Ella it's 2:50!" Natalie all but yelled, looking at her phone.

"What's at 2:50?" Tyler asked.

"Nothing, but at three Mr. Manofmydreams' school is performing." Katherine explained.

The four girls either grab my hand or shove my back in the direction of the performance center. Mitch, Ben, and Tyler all following behind us.

As we made our way to our seats in the gym, now auditorium, I see Julian and the rest of his band setting up. Once he notices us, he smirks and nods his head in acknowledgment. I, being the awkward person I am, give a small, shy wave. Another blush beginning to form on my cheeks. With this small interaction Ben, Mitch, and Tyler now all know who exactly Mr. MANOFKATHERINE'sDREAM is. Ben looks impressed, Mitch looks a tad bit concerned but overall alright with the situation, and Tyler looks… well, I don't know.

"Damn, Ella. That guy looks hella cool." Ben says.

"His outfit looks straight out of hot topic." Mitch smiles.

I laugh at both of them and then turn to Tyler, wondering what he was thinking, not that it really made all that big of a difference. "He doesn't look trustworthy." Tyler grumbled.

"What do you mean?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"I just mean he doesn't look like someone you should be hanging out with."

"What does that even mean Tyler? I mean yeah he looks like he's a bit on the edgier side but he looks like a slightly more amped up you." Mitch reasons.

"You can't judge a book by it's cover." Ben chimes.

Tyler sighs. "Just watch your step Ella."

I give him a reassuring smile. "I always do."

To be continued…..

A/N: I'M SORRY! I'VE BEEN GONE FOR LIKE TEN MILLION YEARS AND THAT'S BEEN YIKE. I started working this summer then got the lead in the musical this year, which, funnily enough, was CInderella. Making me Ella. I guess you could call me Michaella. Ha….. ha…..haha. I apologize. But here I am, back and ready for this story to go places. You have no idea. Again I'm sorry for the long wait. Trust me when I say my friends are just as upset with me as you. SOOOOO Imma try and figure out a schedule for me to write, we'll see how that goes. Thank you so much to everyone who's sticky with this and I'll try to get good. Thanks so much. Feel free to like and comment and I'll see you next time.


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